‘Fleeing would have been cowardly’

The two police beat constables who risked their lives managing traffic at the expressway after a speeding bike crashed into the truck, say though they feared for their lives but did want to flee, reports SK Ahuja.

Sunil Kumar (25) and Surinder Singh (28) the two Gurgaon police beat constables who risked their lives on Friday morning managing traffic at the expressway after a speeding bike crashed into the LPG cylinders-laden truck, said they feared for their lives but did want to flee and leave behind a burning truck. Had the 360 LPG cylinders exploded, it could have killed many, blown up the flyover and affected the surrounding buildings that include a five-star hotel.

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Sunil and Surinder, both married, were on duty at South City Crossing when the accident took place. Siddharth, 18, was killed when his bike hit the truck and caught fire.

Sunil hails from Rohtak and has a two-year-old son. Surinder is from Bahadurgarh and has a son and a daughter. Both the constables had joined service in 2004.

DCP (traffic) SK Gupta has recommended out-of-turn promotion for the two. He said they had helped save lives and property by informing the fire department immediately after the accident. “I saw a bike speeding on the service lane. It was coming from Delhi and it crossed South City Crossing. This bike barely escaped contact with a truck that was coming from Sector 29 road. Then I saw another bike going at about 150 kmph from Delhi side and in no time, it rammed into the truck from the right side,” said Sunil.

He said the biker was wearing helmet and he collapsed on the road and the bike caught fire. “Surinder and I tried to save the biker but the fire was big. I then called up the fire department. Two tenders came in about seven minutes to the spot,” Sunil said.

Meantime, the two constables had started blocking traffic on the service lane. “Sunil and I were stopping the traffic from approaching the crossing. We rushed two security guards to the flyover to stop the traffic coming from Delhi on the flyover,” said Surinder.

When asked why did they not flee to save their lives, the two said they would be called cowards by the department and their families for doing so.