Ghaziabad: Three days on, police yet to trace vehicle that killed three on NH-9

The incident happened around 8.30pm on Tuesday after all four got off a bus from Moradabad and were waiting to cross over to the other side of the highway to go towards Vijay Nagar

It has been three days since an unidentified vehicle killed three pedestrians and injured another on National Highway-9 near Bagu, but the police are yet to identify or trace the vehicle and its driver.

The members of the victim family said they are hoping that Sushila Devi, who is still under treatment, will be able to provide some leads on the vehicle that hit them. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The family of the deceased said that they are pinning their hopes on the injured woman, the sole eye-witness in the case, to get some leads on the vehicle that hit her and the others.

The incident happened around 8.30pm on Tuesday after all four got off a bus from Moradabad and were waiting to cross over to the other side of the highway to go towards Vijay Nagar. Just then, an unidentified speeding vehicle hit them and fled the spot.

The police identified the deceased as Dadri residents Pawan Kumar, 42, and his wife Sunita Devi, 38. The third deceased was identified as their family friend Neelam Kumar, 45, who was a resident of Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad.

The injured woman who is recuperating at a hospital in Delhi was identified as Sushila Devi, 40, the older sister of deceased Sunita Devi and a resident of Palam in Delhi.

“We are yet to get leads on the errant vehicle that fled the scene after crashing into the pedestrians. However, our teams are scanning the CCTV footage. The angle of the incident site is such that the spot is not fully covered by the cameras installed on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. We are trying to trace the vehicle and an FIR has been registered,” said Lipi Nagayach, assistant commissioner of police, Wave City.

The three inner lanes, on each side of the highway, are expressway lanes and the highway authority has provided high-resolution CCTV cameras at every 500 metres of the expressway on each side.

“Our teams will also get statements from the injured woman once she recovers,” Nagayach said.

The police on the basis of complaint, registered an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 281 (rash driving on public way), 125(b) (acts endangering life and personal safety of others) and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) at Crossings Republik police station.

The members of the victim family said they are hoping that Sushila Devi, who is still under treatment, will be able to provide some leads on the vehicle that hit them.

“She suffered a hip-joint fracture and other injuries as a result of the crash. The doctors have not allowed us to speak to her in detail and it will be another couple of days before we can speak to her. We urge police to speed up the investigation to identify the vehicle and its driver,” said Sandeep Kumar, brother of deceased Pawan Kumar.