Malur, 24 Nov

Four men from Chennai were killed in the early hours of Monday when their SUV rammed a flyover barrier and plunged nearly 20 feet at Abbenahalli in Malur taluk on the newly built Chennai Expressway. The accident occurred around 2.30am, killing all four on the spot.

The deceased are Gopi, 38; Gowtham Ramesh, 28; Hariharan, 27; and Jayashankar, 30. 

Police said the group left Chennai around 11pm. Hariharan, a ministerial staffer with the Central Army, was on a pilgrimage to Kerala’s Sabarimala wearing the Ayyappa mala, while his three friends, software engineers working in Bengaluru, were returning after a weekend with their families.

Malur Police Inspector Ramappa Gutter said the driver is suspected to have dozed off while speeding, causing the SUV to hit the barrier before falling off the flyover. With minimal traffic at that hour, no other vehicle was involved.

The Chennai Expressway has witnessed nearly 20 fatalities in nine months. Major crashes include the 2 March incident in which four people died on the spot after a speeding car hit a two-wheeler, with a pregnant woman dying later in hospital. In May, a medico intern died after hitting a divider. Two men from Devanahalli were killed in June, and two more Bengaluru residents died in a head-on collision on 30 July. Another crash near Kalkere saw three deaths and over 20 injuries when a tempo traveller hit a van and a stationary ambulance.

In response to the rising toll, former KGF SP KM Shantharaju installed speed radar guns on the Bangarpet stretch and set a 120 kmph limit for cars, imposing fines for violations. Yet accidents continue unabated, adding to the expressway’s reputation as a dangerous, even “cursed”, stretch.