- By Abhishek Sheoran
- Sun, 24 Nov 2024 10:47 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Days after the tragic accident at ONGC Chowk in Dehradun, which claimed the lives of six young people, the driver of the truck, whose container was involved in the collision, has been arrested in Saharanpur. The driver had fled the scene, abandoning the truck after the incident.
Police identified the truck driver as 34-year-old Ram Kumar, a resident of Saharanpur. Ajai Singh, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun, stated that Kumar had fled to his hometown and had been deliberately avoiding staying at his residence to evade arrest.
As many as 6 youths, including two women, were killed after their over-speeding MUV collided with a truck at an intersection.
During interrogation, truck driver Ram Kumar told the police that he fled the scene out of fear after witnessing the severity of the accident and seeing the victims' bodies scattered on the road. He believed that drivers of larger vehicles are always blamed in such incidents, regardless of the circumstances, which prompted him to go into hiding.
To avoid being tracked, he also turned off his mobile phone, explaining that he did so to conceal the truck’s registration details. However, investigators later discovered that the truck had Haryana number plates and was registered with a private firm in Gurugram. The truck had been sold to Naresh Gautam of Meerut in 2015 and was subsequently leased to Abhishek Chaudhary of Saharanpur.
Kumar was driving the truck on the night of the fatal accident, travelling from Ballupur to Kaulagarh when the crash occurred. He has been charged with fleeing the scene without reporting the incident to the police and attempting to hide evidence by removing the truck's registration plate.