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Police personnel cordon off the area as locals protest against the mishap at Golmuri on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad
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Traffic on the busy Golmuri-Telco Road was affected for over two hours on Monday evening after a fatal mishap triggered a road blockade at Golmuri Chowk.
Forty-five-year-old Usha Sharma was killed on the spot as a speeding truck ran over her near the intersection of Golmuri roundabout around 5.30pm. The victim was a resident of Vijay Nagar near Akashdeep Plaza in Golmuri. She was walking back home from a temple when she was killed.
The truck driver abandoned the vehicle and fled from the spot.
As news of the woman’s death reached Vijay Nagar, a huge crowd surged towards Golmuri Chowk. As family members mourned over the body, others stopped passing vehicles. The angry crowd damaged several auto-rickshaws that were passing by.
As the mob went about smashing windscreens, a section of JVM activists jumped into the fray and set up a road blockade. Sensing trouble, two petrol pumps downed shutters.
The protestors did not allow the police to remove the body till compensation was promised. The protestors also sought a probe as to how a truck was moving on the busy road at 5.30pm, when no-entry was effective. Notably, no-entry restrictions are effective from 5.30pm to 10.30pm.
The blockade was lifted at 8pm following intervention by senior police officers. The mob was assured that the guilty driver would be arrested.
Senior superintendent of police Akhilesh Kumar Jha said though the death due to rash driving was shocking, the mishap took place minutes before the no-entry restriction became effective.
“It was not no-entry time. But still I will find out if there were any lapses on the part of the police,” said Jha, adding that the driver of the truck would be arrested soon.
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