Jalandhar: Pickup van runs over labourers sleeping on footpath, two dead

Jalandhar: Two unidentified migrant labourers sleeping on the footpath near Pathankot Chowk were crushed to death by a speeding Bolero van at around 11.30 pm last night. According to eyewitnesses, the pick-up van bearing number HR73B6048 was moving at a high speed. The driver lost control of the vehicle and fell on the footpath. The vehicle crushed the two labourers and then rammed into another car parked at a nearby taxi stand.
The labourers died on the spot. On receiving information, a team of the Road Safety Force reached the spot. Police also reached the spot and apprehended the driver. They took the suspect named Shivam Kumar, a resident of Haryana, into custody. SHO Gurmukh Singh said that due to high speed, the driver lost control of the vehicle, leading to the fatal accident. Kumar has been arrested and a case has been registered against him under sections 281, 106 and 324 of the BNS Act. The bodies of the deceased will be kept at the mortuary of the Civil Hospital for 72 hours for identification. He said that efforts are being made to identify the dead.