Man, 8-year-old killed by speeding truck at India Gate

The truck hit three empty auto-rickshaws — two of them were crushed — and a scooter belonging to the deceased, Kewal Diwan, who had taken his wife and two children for a round of ice-cream to celebrate the end of his elder daughter Manya’s school examinations last week.

A late evening out at India Gate for a family of four ended in tragedy as a 42-year-old stockbroker and his eight-year-old daughter were killed when a speeding dumper truck rammed four vehicles on Mansingh Road before storming into the lawns surrounding the war memorial a little after midnight on Tuesday.

Passerby look at the mangled remains of an auto and a motorbike, which met with an accident after the driver of a dumper truck lost control and ran over autos and pedestrians near India Gate on Man Singh Road last night, is seen at Police Station Tilak Marg, in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

The truck hit three empty auto-rickshaws — two of them were crushed — and a scooter belonging to the deceased, Kewal Diwan, who had taken his wife and two children for a round of ice-cream to celebrate the end of his elder daughter Manya’s school examinations last week.

The family was standing near an ice-cream cart when the truck lost control and veered towards them all of a sudden, police said.

An auto-rickshaw driver and a labourer, who were lying on the footpath next to the lawns, were also injured in the incident. Police have arrested the driver, Badarpur resident Raman, 24.

“Witnesses told us that the victim’s wife, Poonam Diwan, and their younger daughter, Myra, had stepped on the footpath to buy ice-cream. The truck, coming down Mansingh Road, rammed three auto-rickshaws parked there, and then hit their scooter. As Kewal Diwan saw the truck heading towards his wife, he pushed her away, but failed to get out of the truck’s path and was mowed down,” said a police officer involved in the investigation who asked not to be named. “His elder daughter, Manya, who was standing next to her father, was also killed.”

Poonam and Myra, 3, escaped with minor injuries.

The incident took place a little after 12am, the police officer cited above said. The dumper truck, heading towards Panchamaukhi Chowk (the intersection of Ashoka Road and Mansingh Road, near Andhra Bhawan), took a sharp right turn and entered the wrong side of the road, he added.

As passersby rushed to the spot, police vans in the vicinity went to the site and cordoned the area. Additional public relations officer of Delhi Police, Anil Mittal, said the police received a call from police control room at Tilak Marg police station around 12.20am, reporting an accident.

“A police team that reached the spot found a dumper truck had entered the Rajpath lawns after hitting several vehicles and crossing over the footpath. The victim (Diwan) was found lying near the rear of the dumper, and was shifted to a hospital. Three auto-rickshaws were also found damaged at the spot along with Diwan’s scooter, which was crushed under the dumper,” Mittal said.

By then, Manya had already been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital by some passersby.

Two other men, Deepak Kumar (27), an auto-rickshaw driver from Mata Sundari Road, and Ram Singh (24), a labourer from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, were also rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. The other two men are out of danger, the officer added.

Mittal said the driver of the dumper truck was arrested at the spot. “He also sustained a fracture in his right hand and was taken to LNJP hospital for treatment. He was also tested for alcohol consumption, and medical reports are awaited. Raman has been booked for rash driving, and for causing death due to negligence,” the officer said.

Ajeet Kumar from Sasaram, Bihar, who sells water and cold drinks at India Gate and is a witness to the accident, said the two auto-rickshaws hit by the dumper were almost crushed to a pulp. “The man’s scooter was ground into pieces. Many others who were standing close by had a close shave. There could have been more casualties,” he said.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said the police were checking the records of the truck from the traffic police. “It is being checked if it had permissions to ply in that area. We are also finding out from the driver in what work was the truck engaged at present,” Yadav said.