Two brothers – aged nine and 13 years – who were returning from school on foot were crushed to death, and their seven-year-old sibling was left fighting for his life after a drunk policeman mowed them down with his newly purchased car at Uttawar village in Palwal on Monday afternoon, officials said.
The deceased were identified as Mohammad Ayan, 13, a Class 4 student, and his brother Mohammad Ahsaan, 9, who studied in Class 3. Their younger sibling, Mohammad Arjaan, 7, a Class 2 student at the same government school in Uttawar, was critically injured.
The incident took place between 1.30 PM and 2 PM when the children were returning home on foot from school, accompanied by their grandfather Aas Mohammad, according to police.
The trio were first taken to Nalhar Medical College and Hospital in Nuh, where doctors declared Ayan and Ahsaan dead. Given Arjaan’s critical condition, he was referred to PGIMS, Rohtak, where he continues to remain critical, officials said.
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The suspected driver was identified as Narender Singh, a head constable posted as a reader in the Nuh DSP’s office, who was on his way home to Pahad village, located about 10km from the accident site. “Singh was apprehended at the spot by villagers after a chase and was later handed over to the police team that had reached there,” said deputy superintendent of police (Hathin) Mohinder Singh.
The DSP added that Singh was in uniform at the time of the accident. “He was coming home from Nuh in his newly purchased car when the accident took place. Prima facie, it seemed that he was drunk. A medical examination is yet to be carried out, from which things will become further clear,” he said.
Locals intercepted Singh after a chase, assaulted him, and damaged his Hyundai Exter car, investigators said. The vehicle still bore a temporary registration number and had plastic sheets on its interior.
“Several of the villagers had chased him, forcing him to stop. He was behaving arrogantly even after the accident and clearly seemed to be drunk,” said Tarif Hussain, a local.
Hussain added that some villagers arranged private vehicles instead of waiting for ambulances to take the children to the hospital. “However, two of them could not survive. The third child is in critical condition,” he said.
Recounting the incident, Aas Mohammad, grandfather of the children, said, “We were walking on the extreme left of the road. The children were ahead of me. The speeding car suddenly came from behind and hit them. It had come on the dusty sidewalk. The driver immediately sped away from the spot even without slowing down.”
Mohammad added, “Such was the impact that two of my grandchildren were flung in the air for several feet. I froze as the incident unfolded before me.”
On Aas Mohammad’s complaint, an FIR under sections 106 (1) (causing death by negligence) and 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was in the process of being registered at Uttawar police station in Palwal. The bodies were handed over to the family after an autopsy on Monday evening.