Car catches fire after being hit by truck in Ggm, 2 killed
Fire department, police suspect CNG leak in car could have caused fire
GURUGRAM: Two people were burnt to death after the car they were travelling in was hit by a truck near Rajiv Chowk in Gurugram on Sunday morning. The fire department and the Gurugram police suspect that a CNG leak in the car could have caused the fire.
The police identified one of the victims as Manpreet, a local cab driver attached with app-based cab service provider OLA. The identity of the other person, sitting in the rear seat of the car, is yet to be determined.
According to the police, the incident took place around 4am opposite the Jain Mandir at Rajiv Chowk, when both the vehicles were heading towards Manesar.
Vishram Gujjar, an eyewitness to the incident, said that he had just opened his shop near the temple when he heard a loud sound coming from the direction of the expressway.
“I turned towards the e-way and saw that a truck had hit a car from behind. Such was the impact of the collision that the car’s CNG gas started leaking and the car suddenly caught fire. The truck driver managed to flee the spot. The occupants of the car tried to escape by breaking open the windows. Some bystanders also also joined them. However, the car was soon engulfed in flames. I then made calls to the police and the fire department,” a local resident, Vishram, said in his statement to the police.
As per the police, the vehicles involved in the accident was a Eicher truck — with registeration number RJ14GJ 0625 — and the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire car (HR 55 AC 5671).
The driver of the truck, who is the accused in the case, fled the spot and is still absconding.
According to fire department officials, a fire tender was immediately sent from Bhim Nagar fire station to the spot.
“The fire department was alerted about the incident at 4.15am and it took firemen around 20 minutes to douse the fire. A CNG leakage in the car seems to be the cause of the fire,” IS Kashyap, Fire Safety Officer said.
Police officials said that they were able to identify the car owner from the Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate found inside the car while efforts are on to identify the victim found in the back seat.
“We spoke to OLA officials, who informed us that a person named Sachin had booked the cab driven by Manpreet around 2am and was headed towards Sector 33. Since there is a significant time gap between the cab booking and the accident, it seems unlikely that Sachin was not the person sitting in the rear,” sub-inspector Manoj Kumar, the investigation officer in the case, said.
A case has been registered at the Sadar police station against the truck driver for rash driving and death by negligence under sections 279 and 304 A of the Indian Penal Code.