Truck hits stationary bike on EPE; two die, 1 injured

GHAZIABAD: Two people died and another was injured after a truck hit their bike on Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) on Monday morning. The truck dragged the bike till the latter started leaking petrol and sparked a fire, forcing the truck driver to jump out of his vehicle. He then fled the spot, police said.
Two-wheelers are not allowed on EPE, but neither traffic police nor NHAI officials were present to stop the bike.
According to police, the deceased, Ravi Singh (29) and Subhash Chandra (30), along with Sunder Kumar (29), all from Palwal in Haryana, were headed for Haridwar. A truck hit the bike from behind when the three friends stopped on the road to enquire about the route to Haridwar. Currently, Sunder is in a hospital in Masuri.
According to police, Ravi leaves behind his wife and two children. He was working with a private company as an electrician. Subhash was a farmer.
Yogendra Kumar, the station house officer (SHO) of the Masuri police station, told TOI that the incident took place around 2 am on Monday. Some passers-by informed the police about it by dialling 112. Immediately, a police team reached the spot.
Initial investigation revealed that Ravi was driving the bike while Sunder and Subhash were sitting behind him. “Ravi stopped the bike as he was confused about the route, and suddenly a speeding truck hit the bike from behind. After the collision, all the three persons were in the air before they fell on the road. The truck dragged the bike for nearly 500 metres, and the latter started leaking petrol, and soon a fire broke out in the truck. After that, the truck driver jumped out from the vehicle to save his life and then fled from the spot,” the SHO said.
Police are waiting for a complaint from the victims' families before lodging an FIR in the matter, Kumar said. “We have asked the authority of Eastern Peripheral Expressway (NHAI) to provide the CCTV footage so that cops can trace the driver. We sent the bodies for autopsy and are waiting for the reports,” he added.
Sunder said that Ravi had stopped the bike at the corner of the road and waited for a passer-by to ask for the correct route. “I got off the bike and signalled the truck driver to stop, but he increased the speed, and the truck hit us,” he added.
EPE is a high-speed expressway, only for cars and other commercial vehicles. Traffic police and NHAI are now passing the buck about why the bike was allowed on EPE in the first place.
Ramanand Kushwaha, SP (traffic) said that daily, the traffic police issue challans to two-wheelers at the entry and exit points of EPE. “Several bikes take the entry from other districts, and NHAI should take action on this issue or inform us, so, we will take action, but NHAI never informed us about it. On the other hand, NHAI has access to CCTV footage and can see the bikes on EPE but didn’t take any action. We will write a letter to NHAI officials to resolve the issue,” he said.
An officer with NHAI said that soon, the authority would also write a letter to traffic police to deploy a team to stop the two-wheelers on EPE.