Constable on picket duty crushed to death after techie dozes off at wheel

The constable, identified by his first name Munshilal, was sitting on a chair when the Honda CRV car hit him and dragged him along the pavement and the road for nearly 40 metres.

A 57-year-old Delhi Police constable was killed in the early hours of Saturday after a vehicle, allegedly driven by a 42-year-old IT employee, hit and dragged him for nearly 40 metres at a police check post at Vasant Place Market in south Delhi’s RK Puram Sector-6. Police said the incident happened around 4 am when the errant driver was returning home from a private hospital in Gurugram where his wife, a Covid patient, is undergoing treatment. He was arrested from the spot, police said.

The constable, identified by his first name Munshilal, was checking and prosecuting lockdown violators while on night picket duty. (ANI Photo)

The constable, identified by his first name Munshilal, was checking and prosecuting lockdown violators while on night picket duty. The constable was sitting on a chair when the Honda CRV car hit him and dragged him along the pavement and the road for nearly 40 metres. The car also damaged a temporary tent set up on the pavement for the police personnel on duty at the check post, senior police officers said.

The driver, identified as Samit Yadav from Munirka, allegedly told police that he was tired and had dozed off while the vehicle neared the check post. Since he was returning from a Covid hospital, police officers made him wear a PPE kit before taking him to the Vasant Vihar police station and isolating him in the premises.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said that the mishap came to light around 4 am when the police control room received a call that constable Munshilal was hit by a vehicle at the Al-Kauser police picket, following which a team from the Vasant Vihar police station was sent there.

“A white Honda CRV had badly damaged the picket, the tent erected for police staff and a motorcycle belonging to Munshilal, who was also dragged by the vehicle for 30-40 metres on the road by the vehicle. Munshilal was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he died during treatment,” DCP Singh said.

A case was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving or riding in a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) and Yadav was arrested. His car was impounded.

Police said that Munshilal was posted at the Vasant Vihar police station since August 2020. He is survived by his wife and three children, who are all married. The family originally hail from Alwar in Rajasthan.