A 55-year-old man was crushed to death by his own dumper truck at Ghata village in Sector 56 after it began moving forward on its own due to accidental gear engagement early Wednesday, police said, adding that the deceased was trying to get into the driving seat.
The deceased, identified as Amarjit Singh, a resident of Dharam Colony in Palam Vihar and originally from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, was delivering construction materials for road paving work being carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. Police said the incident took place at 5.30am on Wednesday.
Due to shortage of workers on Diwali, Singh reached Ghata alone to unload interlocking tiles.
A senior police official said that Singh drove the truck to the spot and got down to unload the tiles by hydraulically lifting the rear section.
“However, the gates of the carriage section didn’t open due to which the tiles could not be dumped. He kept the truck engine running and got down to open the gates by hitting their locks with a rod,” he said.
As the locks opened, the truck’s gear accidentally got engaged due to a jerk, causing it to move forward slowly, the officer said.
Investigators said that Singh ran forward and tried to climb up into the driver’s seat but slipped and fell under the rear wheels. The fully loaded truck ran over him before stopping after hitting a wall.
Locals alerted the police control room following which he was rushed to civil hospital in Sector-10A where doctors declared him dead.
Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that an inquiry under sections 194 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was being carried out on the basis of the statement of the deceased’s son Vikram Singh given to police at Sector-56 police station.
“The body was handed over to the family after an autopsy on Thursday. It was a freak accident which resulted in Singh’s death as the driverless truck’s gear got engaged and it ran over him,” he added.