Ghaziabad: Three killed, one hurt as unidentified vehicle rams them on NH-9

All four were standing on the roadside and were waiting to cross over to the other side of the road towards Vijay Nagar when they were hit by a speeding unidentified vehicle which fled the scene without stopping

Two women and a man were killed after a speeding unidentified vehicle hit them while they were standing on the side of National Highway-9 (NH-9) near Crossings Republik township late Tuesday night, senior police officers said Wednesday, adding that a fourth person, a woman, suffered severed injuries and is currently critical.

Ghaziabad Police inspect the incident spot on NH-9 on Wednesday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Police said they are in the process of identifying the errant vehicle. They 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 elder sister of deceased Sunita Devi and a resident of Palam in Delhi, police said.

Police said the four of them had gone to attend a wedding in Moradabad and got off a bus at the accident spot around 9pm on Tuesday upon returning to Ghaziabad.

“All four were standing on the roadside and were waiting to cross over to the other side of the road towards Vijay Nagar when they were hit by a speeding unidentified vehicle which fled the scene without stopping. The injured were rushed to the hospital. In all, three persons died while a fourth woman is undergoing treatment,” said Lipi Nagayach, assistant commissioner of police, Wave City.

The family of the deceased couple said all four had gone to Moradabad on November 8 to attend a wedding and returned to Ghaziabad by bus on Tuesday night.

“After reaching Ghaziabad, they were planning to stay at Neelam’s house in Vijay Nagar and return to their homes on Wednesday morning. However, we got a call from police around 9.30pm on Tuesday, informing us about the accident. We rushed to the spot and learned that my brother died on the spot while my sister-in-law Sunita and her friend Neelam were taken to a hospital in Noida by the highway patrol van. However, they too died during treatment at the hospital,” said Pawan’s brother Sandeep Kumar.

Kumar said Sushila’s condition is critical but is still under treatment at a hospital in Delhi.

“We do not know whether it was a car, truck or some other vehicle. No one was around to identify it or to stop it. The autopsy of two women who died at a hospital in Noida will take place in Gautam Budh Nagar while my brother’s autopsy will be carried out in Ghaziabad since he died on the spot there. I have given a complaint to the police and hope that the errant driver will be arrested soon. My brother and sister-in-law have a daughter aged 11, but we have not told her that her parents have died,” Kumar said.

The police said that they will soon register an FIR against the errant driver.

“We have not been able to identify the vehicle as yet, but we are taking the help of CCTV footage to identify the vehicle. Strict legal action will be taken up,” Nagayach said.