Four dead as truck runs over Ghaziabad family on NH-48

Police said the accident took place when the car’s driver pulled over on the side of the road to change the tyre

Four members of a family, including three minors, were killed and four others were injured after being run over by a speeding pick-up truck on National Highway 48 (NH-48) near Jharsa in Gurugram, police officers aware of the case said.

The car after the crash on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Police said 11 members of the family — two men, three women, and six children — were travelling from their house in Ghaziabad to a temple in Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi in a Hyundai Santro car. They said Umesh Pal, 27, the owner of the car, was driving when he realised he had a flat tyre and pulled over on the side of the road.

They said Umesh was changing the tyre, and the three women and five children were waiting behind the car, while a sleeping infant was on the rear seat of the car when the truck crashed into them and then the car, dragging the vehicle for almost 100 metres before coming to a halt. The driver immediately fled the spot, police said.

Investigators identified the deceased as Umesh’s sister Shatakshi Devi (27), her nine-month-old daughter Pari, and her two nephews Vedansh, 1, and Prisha, 3. Umesh and Shatakshi’s mother Pushpa Devi, 56, sister Renu Devi, 24, and niece Charu, 24, and Shatakshi’s daughter Arohi, 5 were critically injured in the incident and are on ventilator support at a private hospital in Gurugram’s Sector 38, officers said.

Umesh, Shatakshi’s husband Johnny Pal, 30, and their daughter Yashika, 2, managed to escape with just a few bruises, they said. On Umesh’s complaint, a first information report was registered against the pickup van driver under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of Indian Penal Code at the Sector 40 police station.

Inspector Surender Singh, station house officer of the Sector 40 police station, said the driver of the pick-up van is on the run. “We have contacted the vehicle owner seeking details of the driver to arrest him immediately,” he said.

Umesh and Shatakshi’s cousin Sandeep Kumar said the entire family had united at their residence in Bhopura for Umesh’s wedding ceremonies, which commenced on June 25.

“The reception took place on June 30 and the entire family stayed back for a few more days. On Tuesday, they planned a trip to a temple in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, before returning to their respective homes,” he said.