Truck driver held for crash that killed four in Sarita Vihar

The driver said the accident happened after the truck’s front right tyre burst, causing him to lose control of the vehicle, police said.

New Delhi:The driver of a speeding dumper truck that crashed into a parked a boom lift (stationary crane) and an auto-rickshaw at a Delhi Traffic Police camera installation site in south Delhi’s Sarita Vihar, killing four people on Sunday, was arrested in Haryana, police said on Monday.

The truck crashed into the boom lift, the auto-rickshaw and then the road divider, said police. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The driver, Vinod, in his early 40s and a resident of Uttar Pradesh, said the accident happened after the truck’s front right tyre burst, causing him to lose control of the vehicle, police added.

Police, however, said they did not believe his claim.

“Our probe suggests the tyre burst after crashing into the boom lift, the auto-rickshaw and then the road divider. However, the exact reason will be known after the mechanical inspection of the truck. The boom lift’s rear left tyre also burst due to the crash,” said the officer.

Joint police commissioner Vijay Kumar said Vinod is a resident of Faridabad. “The truck owner is also from Faridabad. The investigating team is interrogating the arrested driver to establish the exact sequence of events leading to the crash,” Kumar said.

Employees of Nehru Place-based company Aabmatica were installing and checking traffic violation detection cameras when the truck veered towards them and hit the two vehicles on the Kalindi Kunj-Sarita Vihar Road around 3.20am on Sunday.

Six people were taken to a nearby hospital. HR manager Suraj Nayal, 34, auto driver Umesh Kumar, 23, and technician Praveen Kumar, 35, were declared dead. Praveen Kumar’s 26-year-old cousin, Anup Kumar, later died during treatment. The two injured were identified as Aakash, 20, and Khem Singh, 40. Sudhir, another employee at the site, escaped unharmed, the officer said.

Police said the truck, which usually carried construction material, was empty during the incident. The driver fled the spot, leaving the truck and the injured behind. The truck was suspected to be returning from Noida after unloading material and was headed to Faridabad for reloading.

“Since entry of heavy vehicles, including trucks carrying construction material, is allowed only between 11pm and 6am, when no-entry restrictions are lifted, truck drivers try to use that window for maximum trips. To achieve that target, they drive at high speed,” said an investigator.