A Bhubaneswar law student who was released on bail after a fatal Mercedes crash in July has been arrested again after police alleged that he deliberately drove a Tata Nexon EV into people and parked motorcycles following an argument at a roadside eatery.
Soumya Ranjan Rath, a fifth-year law student and son of builder Shiv Shekhar Rath of Jayadev Vihar, was arrested by Badagada police on Monday. Four people, including dhaba owner Tapan Das, were injured and at least seven motorcycles were damaged near SR Valley Chhak and Kesora on the Kataka-Puri Bypass, according to the report.
Police have registered four fresh cases against Rath at Badagada police station and booked him under attempt-to-murder provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with other serious sections. Zone-4 ACP Abhimanyu Nayak said an argument involving Rath, the dhaba owner and staff preceded the incident.
According to police, Rath initially left the location with two friends. CCTV footage allegedly shows him driving 300 to 400 metres away, turning the vehicle around and accelerating towards people and vehicles near the roadside. Police said he made a second attempt using another route before the electric vehicle stalled during a third attempt. Local residents then caught him while he was allegedly trying to flee and handed him over to the police.
Rath was taken to Capital Hospital for a medical examination before being produced in court. Police said the vehicle appeared to have been used as a weapon and alleged that the incident involved a clear intention to cause death or serious injury. Medical checks, according to the report, found that Rath had consumed alcohol.
The arrest follows a separate fatal crash on July 13, when Rath was allegedly driving a Mercedes near Sastri Nagar Square and struck and killed 37-year-old AC mechanic Debiprasad Routray. A breathalyser test recorded 127 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, more than four times the legal limit, the report said.
Routray, who was originally from the Tirtol area of Jagatsinghpur district, was the sole breadwinner for his wife and young daughter, according to the report. Rath was arrested the following day and charged with rash driving, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and drunk driving. He was later released on bail.
The Bhubaneswar Regional Transport Office has begun proceedings to cancel Rath’s driving licence, which had previously been suspended after the July case, and revoke the registration of the Tata Nexon EV involved in the latest incident. Investigators are also examining the vehicle’s ownership and items recovered from it, including an identity card belonging to Additional DCP Tapan Kumar Patnaik, to establish whether the document is genuine.
Police said the role of Rath’s companions, the precise trigger for the roadside argument and the full sequence of events remain under investigation. Authorities are treating the new cases as separate from the July fatal crash, while the alleged repeat involvement in drunk and reckless driving has brought renewed scrutiny to enforcement of licence suspensions and bail-related driving restrictions.
