A 23-year-old engineer was crushed to death by a tanker after an illegal hoarding erected on the divider fell on her in Chennai on September 12.

Subhasri was returning home on her scooter when a life-size hoarding of AIADMK leaders fell on her throwing her off the wheels. Seconds later a tanker hit her scooter injuring her head.

The hoarding which crashed on her was installed by a local leader – C Jeyagopal who is an AIADMK councillor and had images of the Tamil Nadu CM – Edappadi K Palaniswami, his deputy O Panneerselvam, and former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.

Police have booked truck driver Manoj under section 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way, 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304 A (Causing death by negligence) of the IPC.

Later in the day, C Jayagopal was also booked for mounting an illegal hoarding after the complaint by an assistant engineer in the Chennai Corporation. Jayagopal has been booked under Section 4 of The Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement)Act, 1959. The Chennai civic body has sealed the shop from where the hoarding was printed.

The Madras High Court in 2017 had banned banners and hoardings of living persons and political parties. Taking cognisance of the latest mishap the high court on September 13 slammed the state government for failing to implement its order banning hoardings.

“There is zero respect for lives in this country. It is a bureaucratic apathy. Sorry, we have lost faith in the government,” said Madras High Court Justice Seshasayee on Friday.

Following the death of the techie, the DMK blamed the state government for failing to hold the order. Party chief MK Stalin while taking a dig at the AIADMK said, “Subhasri has died due to negligence of government and inefficient police officers.” He further questioned how many more lives would be lost to power-hungry and anarchist rule?

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