Two dead as pickup van rams into illegally parked truck on Delhi-Mumbai eway

Krishan Kumar, public relations officer of Nuh police, said that as soon as the van reached near the Ghata village, it collided with the illegally parked truck.

Two people died after the pickup van in which they were travelling rear ended an illegally parked truck on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway at Firozpur Jhirka in Nuh, police said on Tuesday.

Both the bodies were handed over to the family members after carrying out autopsies on Monday.

The deceased persons were identified as Ram Bhan, 40, of Wajidpur in Karauli, Rajasthan and Sandeep Jha, 26, of Brijpatti in Madhubani, Bihar.

As per police, the accident took place on early Monday morning when Bhan was returning to his residence in Okhla, Delhi, from his village with grains and cereals in the hired van driven by Jha.

Krishan Kumar, public relations officer of Nuh police, said that as soon as the van reached near the Ghata village, it collided with the illegally parked truck.

“The truck driver might not have kept any parking light or any reflective tapes pasted in the rear. The spot was also poorly lit,” said Kumar, adding that the collision was so intense that the van’s cabin was completely crumpled, trapping the duo inside.

Kumar said commuters had alerted the police control room after which emergency response vehicles reached the spot.

“It took several minutes to extricate the duo out of the mangled van. By that time, Bhan was

already dead as he had sustained severe head injury. Jha was rushed to the government hospital but he also died in the course of treatment soon,” he said.

Investigators said that the large chunk of metal had pierced through the chest of Jha leaving him critically injured.

Police said soon after the accident, the truck driver had fled from the spot with the vehicle.

Footage of CCTV cameras on the route were being scanned to get a clue of the truck and its registration number to trace the owner and eventually the driver.

On complaint of Bhan’s brother, Bharat Lal, an FIR was registered against an unidentified truck driver under sections 106 (causing death by negligence) and 281 (rash driving on public way) at Firozpur Jhirka Sadar police station on Monday. Both the bodies were handed over to the family members after carrying out autopsies on Monday.