Five of family killed, 4 injured in road accident

Kolkata: Five members of a family were killed, while four others were injured in a road accident at Goghat in Hooghly late on Saturday night. They were returning home from a tour at Digha. The victims were Abu Bakar (37), Mariar Khatun (20), Sheikh Osman Gazi (16), Mohammed Khalil (31) and Marjina Begum (37). All of them were residents of Arambag in Hooghly.

The group of nine went to visit Digha few days ago. When they were returning in an SUV, a lorry dashed their vehicle while coming from the opposite direction, according to preliminary investigation. The police suspect that the driver of the SUV perhaps fell asleep on the way. The accident took place at Mandaran on Kamarpukur-Midnapore state highway. The offending lorry fled after the accident.

Local residents woke up to a massive sound of collision and rushed to the spot.

They recovered the bodies and rescued the injured. All were taken to Arambag Sub Division Hospital where the five were declared brought dead. The four injured family members were shifted to a hospital in Kolkata. The police has impounded the SUV. A case on rash driving charges has been initiated by the police.  The five bodies were sent for post-mortem. Meanwhile a Trinamul Congress leader was run over by a speeding sand-laden truck at Purshura in Hooghly. The victim, Panchugopal Roy, was a member of Purshura gram panchayat no 1.

On Sunday morning he was passing by the Purshura block development office where the local residents alleged that extortion by the police has been rampant. Suddenly, the lorry while trying to dodge past the cops at a high speed to avoid the payment of extortion dashed Roy, according to them.

Roy was rushed to Shreerampore Hospital where he was declared brought dead. Furious over his death locals blocked road for nearly two hours.