2 cars run over workers, five killed

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, November 21

Five workers were killed and five others suffered injuries when two cars — one after the other — ran over them. They were sleeping on the sidewalk on the railway overbridge (RoB) near Jindal industries adjoining the Industrial Area in the town last night.

One of the car drivers has been sentenced in a murder case and has been evading arrest. The occupants of the other car, which is stated to be linked to a relative of a bureaucrat, are yet to be identified.

According to information, the victims were engaged in repair and maintenance work of the RoB and went to sleep after finishing their work.

They had put up a signboard to divert traffic from the under-repair patch on the RoB. Some charcoal drums and other implements were also placed alongside.

The deceased have been identified as Neeraj Yadav (30), Vikas (35), Chand Kishore (20), Awadesh (35) and Subhash (20). Among the injured in the mishap are Gobind, Bhushan and Vikash.

One of the car drivers, Manoj alias Mogli, was also injured in the accident. The occupants of the other car are missing so far.

One of the injured, Govind, a resident of Bihar, informed the police that he was awake at the time of the incident. He said that he spotted an I20 car coming from Hisar town to cross the RoB. The driver drove rashly and ran over some workers who were sleeping on the sidewalk on the RoB.

As the other workers woke up and rushed to the help of their injured colleagues, an Ertiga car followed the same route, running over the group of workers. He said that all this occurred within seconds.

The police said that while the I20 car was without registration, Ertiga had registration number HR 09G0002.

Police sources said that the I20 driver, Manoj alias Mogli, had been convicted along with 22 others in a murder case in August by a district court but had absconded before the court pronounced the quantum of judgment to the convicts. The murder had occurred when two groups of gangsters — known as Bisla group and Gurjar group – had engaged in a shootout about six years ago in the town. Thus, Manoj is a convict, but life imprisonment would be awarded to him after his appearance in court.

Shiv Charan, SP, said that Manoj has been evading arrest after his conviction and was declared a proclaimed offender. He sustained injuries last night and has been admitted to a private hospital. Police personnel have been deployed for his security.

Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased have refused to take the bodies from the civil hospital and have demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each family. The contractor for the repair and maintenance work, Rajender Kumar, said that work was set to start from Wednesday.