A group of schoolchildren making their way home after school cheated death after a man alleged to have been driving under the influence of alcohol knocked 17 of them down at Nira-Baramati Road on Wednesday evening. Police arrested the driver who was identified as Popat alias Prabhakar Hanumantrao Gulumkar (50), a resident of Wadgaon Nimbalkar. He, however, died yesterday while the police were producing him in a local court.u00a0

The children escaped with minor injuries and are undergoing treatment at Baramati and Lonand hospital. The injured children have been identified as Pradnya Rajesh Kenjale, Shraddha Somnath Deshmukh, Unnati Mukund Kulkarni and her sister Mrunal, Priyanka Dilip Karche and her sister Monali, Yogita Dnyaneshwar Sorte and her sister Priti, Akshay Khanderao Magar and his brother Aakash, Gayatri Popat Kolte, Abhishek Shivaji Korde, Priyanka Gorakh Holkar and her brother Suraj, Viraj Rajendra Kulkarni, Aniket Vasant Salunke and Vrushali Ankush Jadhav.u00a0A case was registered against Gulumkar at the Wadgaon Nimbalkar police station on Wednesday late night.