Speeding dumper drags boy eight kilometres

An 18-year old boy on scooter was crushed to death by a speeding truck which dragged him for around eight kilometres, while two of the victim’s friends, who clung to the dumper making desperate pleas to the driver to stop, were attacked with rod by his helper.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in southeast Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area and the errant dumper was flagged down at a picket near Aurobindo College after a chase following which the body of the victim, identified as Fawad Ahmad, was pulled out, the police said.

Ahmad, a waiter by profession, was on his scooter with two of his friends riding pillion driving past Lajpat Nagar when the speeding truck hit them from behind, a police official said. However, the driver did not stop after the collision and accelerated the vehicle, with Ahmad’s body and the broken scooter stuck in the vehicle’s suspension.

Meanwhile, Ahmad’s friends Gaurav and Shivam managed to grab railings on two different sides of the vehicle and clung on to the speeding truck, pleading the driver to stop, the official said. It was a passerby who witnessed the episode and called up the police, the official said.

“We have arrested four persons under relevant sections of law in connection with the incident,” DCP (southeast) M.S. Randhawa said. The arrested persons include the errant driver and helper of the truck which hit Ahmad’s scooter and also the driver and helper of the truck following the vehicle.

A police team had signalled the other truck to stop, but they disobeyed. Both trucks have been impounded, an official said.

He said both the trucks also allegedly tried to obstruct the electrician who chased the accused.