Delhi: Truck Runs Over Pavement Dwellers, Three dead

New Delhi: Three died after a canter truck ran over five men sleeping on a footpath in the Shastri Park area of northeast Delhi in the early hours of Monday, police said.

They said the incident occurred at the Tarbuz market near the Shastri Park metro station around 4:30 am, and added that the victims were homeless.

An officer said the medium goods vehicle was approaching the Iron Bridge from Seelampur when it climbed the central verge and ran over the five men sleeping on the footpath.

The trucker abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot after the incident.

The victims were taken to the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, where three were declared dead. One of them was identified as Mohammad Jakir (35) of Bihar's Katihar who worked here as a labourer. He would often sleep on the same footpath, according to the local residents.

The two injured -- Mushtaq (35) and Kamlesh (36) -- were taken to the GTB Hospital, the officer added.

Police said there were rickshaw pullers and labourers among the victims.

According to an eyewitness, the truck driver sped away after running the people over. Some people tried to chase him but he escaped, leaving the vehicle a few metres from the spot, he said.

The eyewitness said two other people got dragged for some distance after getting stuck in a rope of the truck but they did not get hurt.

Jainul, who was sleeping at a nearby shanty, said he rushed to the spot soon after the accident.

"I reached the spot and heard Mustafa crying out loud in pain and people lying unconscious on the road," he said.

Jainul said police arrived after half an hour, and the ambulance came later. "I helped the police pick up the injured and took them to the hospital. Nobody else came to help," he added.

Referring to one of the deceased, local resident Sunny told PTI, "I do not know his name, but we used to call him Bahadur. He used to run a roadside stall of groceries and cigarettes." "Last night too, I went and had a cold drink with him. He never used to sleep on the divider. I do not know why he went to sleep there yesterday, maybe because of mosquitoes," he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said a case under section 281 (rash driving), 125A (act endangering life of personal safety of others) and 106 (causing death by negligence) of the BNS has been registered and further probe is underway.

He also said several teams were working to nab the truck driver and efforts are underway to identify the other two deceased. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)