Indore: Woman techie killed by overspeeding car after rental dispute

A woman software engineer in Indore was killed after being hit by an overspeeding car inside a residential colony. The incident followed a dispute between residents and a penthouse owner over his Airbnb rental. The owner's son is the accused.

A woman software engineer was killed after being hit by an overspeeding car inside a residential colony in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district late Wednesday night, following an argument over some issues, an official said. The deceased has been identified as Shampa Pandey, who worked with a private IT company. The accused also hit another woman, a security guard's wife, who was injured in the incident. The police registered a case against the accused and detained them for questioning.

Police Register Murder Case

Lasudiya Police Station in charge Taresh Soni told ANI, "The incident occurred last time. There is a building in Shiv Vatika township where a person named Kuldeep Chaudhary owns a penthouse here, which is used for the purpose of renting out, registered with Airbnb. The residents of the colony had expressed their disapproval of such a rental existing in the residential premises to Kuldeep Chaudhary. Last night, the colony residents turned off the power to his penthouse."

"Following this, there was an altercation between the residents and Kuldeep Chaudhary. Soon after, his son, Mohnish Chaudhary, hit some people with his overspeeding car here. In this, Shampa Pandey, a software engineer working in Infosys, suffered injuries and lost her life, and another woman, a security guard's wife, was injured. We have registered a case of murder against Kuldeep Chaudhary and Mohnish Chaudhary, and they have been detained for questioning," he added.

Husband Recounts Tragic Incident

On the other hand, the deceased's husband, Saurabh Pandey said there were some altercations about the power cut with the owner of the penthouse situated in the building and in the meantime, the latter called his son to bring their car, saying let's settle this that night.

"Last night around 10 pm, when my wife and I were preparing to go to sleep, the power in our house went out. Upon checking, I found that there was power in the gallery area and some people had gathered on the ground floor. We also saw a penthouse owner standing there. When I asked the penthouse owner if anyone had purposely switched off the power supply to my house, he answered in the affirmative. On this, I argued with him about why he turned off our light when I didn't turn down his light. In the meantime, other people of the society also gathered over there," Pandey told ANI.

"Suddenly, this penthouse owner rang his son and asked him to bring their car and let's settle this today. As soon as he (the penthouse owner's son) came, he started hurling abuses at us. Suddenly, this man drove his car at a speed of 60-70kmph inside the campus of our housing colony. He first hit a maid and then he hit my wife with his speeding car. As a result of the impact of the hit from the car, my wife's body flew and hit a wall, and she suffered a brain haemorrhage, which led to her death. There is CCTV footage of the incident. The penthouse owner is someone called Mr Chaudhary; we suspect he runs a housing rental service in his penthouse here," he added.

Injured Victim's Testimony

Meanwhile, injured victim Ranu Rawal said that she was walking after having dinner and heard some dispute noise, resulting in her going to check. In the meantime, Kuldeep's son hit her with his car.

"I went out after dinner and I went to see a verbal altercation which was underway here last night. During this, Kuldeep's son hit me with his car. After this, he crushed a woman resident to death with his car, broke the gate and ran away. I sustained injuries in my back and leg. The Police had come here last night. I work as a security guard here," Rawal said. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)