Kanpur, Jun 13 (IANS): Three farmers died allegedly after being run over by a car of a Public Works Department (PWD) official in Kanpur's Bilhaur town.

The three elderly farmers, all residents of Billhaur, were standing on the side of the Lucknow-Etawah road on Monday evening when the car ran over them leading to their on the spot death, police said.

The deceased farmers have been identified as Surendra Singh, 62, Ahibaran Singh, 63, and Ghaseete Yadav, 65.

The accused driver, Ajeet Kumar Pandey, has been arrested.

An initial probe hinted at negligence on the part of Pandey, who was in an inebriated state while driving the car.

The car is registered in the name of a junior engineer of the PWD Ayodhya but was driven by Pandey at the time of the incident.

A preliminary probe revealed that Pandey was under the influence of alcohol while he was driving, SHO ((Bilhaur) Surendra Singh said.

Pandey was on his way to Ayodhya after dropping off the junior engineer's family in Sikandara in Kanpur Dehat when he lost control of the vehicle.

"We suspect that Pandey was driving the vehicle rashly and negligently when the fatal accident took place, " the SHO said.