Chennai: Two flower vendors and a 24-year-old man sleeping on North Fort Road outside the Harbour MLA office were killed and four others were injured when an overspeeding bike ran over them early Wednesday morning. Three teenagers who were on the bike were returning after attending prayers for Shab-e-Meraj at the Triplicane Big mosque, police said. Police have arrested Sadiq (19) of Bangaru Naidu street, Anna Salai who was riding the bike. Police identified the deceased as D.Shakuntala (65), S.Chinnaponnu (70) and C.Appu (24). The deceased are residents of slum clearance board settlements in different parts of the city, but sleep on the footpath near Parrys corner. “All of them are flower vendors and have been living in the same area since their childhood,” said Lalitha, Shakuntala’s niece.

Eyewitnesses told DC that the incident happened around 2.30 am when around a dozen people who were sleeping on the roadside woke up screaming. “By the time we could realize what had happened, two of them had already died and the bikers fled the scene,” said. S.TiruniraiSelvi (50), Chinnaponnu’s daughter who suffered injuries on her right leg in the incident. The speeding bike, which took a sharp turn off Sir Muthusamy Road, first hit Appu’s cot throwing him a few meters away and ran over the two women sleeping on the road. The bike came to a halt knocking over a wooden crate on which other people were sleeping. Before the others could react, the bikers fled the scene.

Police personnel moved the injured to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for treatment. While Appu and Shakuntala died on the spot, Chinnaponnu died while being ferried to the hospital.Cops hunting for the biker trio came to the Government Stanley Hospital where the trio got admitted claiming that they hit a center median in Royapuram. “The boys initially went to a private hospital, but they were denied treatment after which they admitted themselves at Stanley hospital,” a police officer said.

Personnel from the Kasimedu Traffic Investigation wing were alerted by the hospital authorities after which they picked the trio. Incidentally, an autorickshaw driver also handed over a smart phone recovered from the accident scene to the cops, which happened to belong to one of the trio thus confirming their presence there, police said. Sadiq was arrested on charges of causing death due to negligence and was remanded to judicial custody while his friends Mansur (19) of J.J. Garden road and Feroze (18) of Triplicane are undergoing treatment at the hospital Sadiq and Mansur work in butcher shops while Feroze is an electrician, police said. The bodies of the victims were handed over to the family members after post mortem.