Mysore/Mysuru: The New Year’s Eve death toll in Mysuru and its vicinity has reached four. Alongside the tragic incident involving two 22-year-old BBA students, who lost their lives in a collision between their speeding bike and an SUV at 2.15 am on Hunsur Road, two additional fatalities occurred near Srirangapatna during the early hours on the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway. In this separate incident, an MBBS student and an engineering student met with a fatal end.

According to Srirangapatna Police, a group of six students, including 19-year-old Mahin Singh, an MBBS student and 20-year-old Arnav, were en route to Mysuru in a KIA 7-seater SUV after concluding their celebration in Bengaluru. Mahin, a native of Patna, Bihar, was pursuing MBBS at Sapthagiri Medical College in Bengaluru, while Arnav, also from Patna, was an engineering student at BEMS Engineering College, Bengaluru.

The accident occurred at 3.15 am when their speeding SUV collided with a Ford car entering the main carriageway of the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway from the service road at Gowripura near K. Shettihalli. Police reported that the KIA was travelling at a speed of 120 to 130 kmph, and due to the impact, the SUV flew over the road divider, crashing onto the other side of the road.

While Arnav died on the spot, Mahi Singh died at the K.R. Hospital in Mysuru. The other four passengers in the car sustained minor injuries and were treated at private hospitals in Mysuru. The passengers of the other car too were treated at hospitals.

A case has been registered by Srirangapatna Rural Police Station and a post-mortem was conducted at JSS Medical College Hospital last evening and the bodies have been handed over to family members. The bodies are being taken to Patna.

According to the relatives of the deceased, both Mahi Singh and Arnav came from respectable families. While both the parents of Mahi Singh are doctors, Arnav’s father is a top bureaucrat in Bihar. Srirangapatna Inspector B.G. Kumar has booked the case and a probe is on.