New Delhi:
A truck overturned in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar early Wednesday, crushing to death two people going to the airport to catch a flight, police said.
Ankit Malhotra and Ranjan Kalra, both aged 35, were into event management and going to Kolkata for work. Malhotra lived in Karkardooma and had come to pick Kalra up from his residence in Lajpat Nagar.
The truck driver fled from the spot after the accident, police said, adding however that the owner of the truck bearing a Haryana registration has been identified.
“We received a call about the accident around 3.50 am,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said.
A truck had overturned and the rice container it was carrying had fallen on a Honda City under the Lajpat Nagar flyover on the Ring Road, Meena said.
“The two persons inside the car were badly crushed under the container.”
It took the police nearly an hour to remove the vehicle and take out the bodies.
Two big hydra cranes, one JCB and two small cranes from the traffic unit were called and the container filled with rice bags was removed, the officer said.
Malhotra and Kalra were declared brought dead by doctors at a hospital, he added.
A case has been registered under section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and efforts are being made to nab the truck driver, a senior police officer said.
CCTV cameras installed in and around the spot are being scanned, he said.
Kalra was married and lived with his family in Krishna Market in Lajpat Nagar and Malhotra was a resident of Saini Enclave near Karkardooma, police said.