LUCKNOW, Feb. 16 -- A 21-year-old Class 12 student arrested after a car allegedly driven by him rammed into pedestrians and vehicles on Kanpur Road in Banthra on the evening of February 12, killing a six-year-old boy and injuring four others, claimed during interrogation that the accident occurred due to brake failure, police said on Sunday.

The accused, Gaurav Singh, a resident of Bablukheda village in Unnao's Sohramau area, studies at an inter college in Alambagh. His father, Ravindra Vikram Singh, runs a cement and iron rod business in Banthra.

According to his father, Gaurav told the family he had attended a college farewell party and later stopped at a dhaba with friends for tea. A female friend, also a Class 12 student of the same...