Speeding truck mows down four, including two cops, in Ambala

Two policemen on Dial 112 emergency duty and two farmers were crushed to death by a speeding truck opposite Jaggi City Centre in Ambala Cantt on National Highway-44 in the wee hours of Saturday.

The deceased were identified as exempted assistant sub-inspector (EASI) Nasib Dass, 53, of Ambala, constable Balwinder Singh, 42, of Kurukshetra, Manish Kumar, 35, and Pardeep Kumar, 32, both vegetable farmers from Yamunanagar.

The accident took place at 4am when beat in-charge Dass received a call from the police control room about a scuffle following an accident between a car and a truck. He along with constables Balwinder Singh and Pawan Kumar, who all were on night duty, reached the spot.

Pawan Kumar, who survived the accident, said he was attending to traffic when a speeding truck bearing a Rajasthan number coming from the Ambala Cantt side hit them. “I jumped away just in time, but the truck rammed into the car and stopped after hitting the other truck. Both the policemen and the farmers were caught in between the vehicles and died on the spot,” the constable said.

The truck driver fled after the incident. He has been booked under Sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code at the Baldev Nagar police station.

“We are trying to contact the truck owner in Rajasthan to ascertain his whereabouts,” said station in-charge sub-inspector Balbir Singh.

Cops were sole breadwinners

EASI Dass, who belonged to Jalbera village in Ambala, was with the Haryana Police for the past 35 years. He was his family’s sole breadwinner, as both his sons are still studying while his daughter is married.

“Now, I’m the eldest male member in the family. I don’t know how we’ll run the household,” said his elder son Sunil, who was present outside the trauma centre.

Constable Balwinder, an ex-serviceman, joined police in 2015, and belonged to Dudhi village in Kurukshetra. His 19-year-old son is also studying. The two farmers were friends and belonged to the same village, Kulpur, in Yamunanagar. They were in Ambala to sell their produce.

State home minister Anil Vij, IG Bharti Arora and SSP Hamid Akhtar reached the civil hospital in the city to meet the families of the victims. Vij announced ₹50 lakh compensation along with a job each to the families of both the policemen.