HYDERABAD: Five of six friends on their way to buy freshly tapped toddy at a village drowned after their rented car plunged into a lake in Pochampally mandal of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district early Saturday.
The sole survivor Manikanta told police that he, along with his friends – Vamshi (23), Vignesh (21), B Harshavardhan (19), I Harsha (20), and Vinay (20), all from RTC Colony in LB Nagar – had borrowed a car from Vamshi’s friend Bunny on Friday and gone for a joyride.
“They partied through the night, and some of them consumed liquor. They kept moving from one place to another. Vamshi, driving to his native village, Ramannapet, to buy toddy, lost control of the car, which hit the roadside railing, overturned, and plunged into a lake around 5.30 am,” Choutuppal CI A Ramulu told TOI.
Manikanta, seated next to Vamshi, reacted quickly by smashing the windshield and managed to escape. After the glass was broken, water rushed in, trapping the others.
