Chennai: A taxi contracted by a call centre ran over homeless people at around mid-night on Sunday killing two women and a man sleeping on a pavement in Chennai.

The taxi driver who absconded after the incident was later apprehended and has been taken into custody.

According to the police, the driver lost control of the car when he tried to avoid hitting a cow on the road. As his car swerved onto the pavement, it crushed three people sleeping there.

Out of the three victims, a 28 year old pregnant woman was hit too along with her husband. All three of them are rag- pickers in the area, according to police officials.

Chennai police is yet to determine if he was drunk while driving or not.