A magisterial inquiry has been ordered on Tuesday into the death of four policemen and a driver who were killed in Muzaffarpur on Monday.

Inspector-general (Tirhut) Sunil Kumar said the inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the circumstances that led to the incident. The district police's special investigation team (SIT) has been asked to assist the probe.

A deputy superintendent of police Krishna Murari Prasad and the station house officer of Panapur police outpost, D.N. Jha, had suffered serious injuries in the accident, which took place near Ankuraha village on the Motihari-Muzaffarpur road.

The IG said the SIT visited the spot and collected evidence. The identity of the owner of the truck bearing a Haryana registration number has been ascertained and efforts were on to nab the driver and his assistant, who had managed to escape.

The IG said preliminary probe revealed that a speeding truck hit the cops from behind when they were searching a car in the area falling under the jurisdiction of Panapur police outpost in Muzaffarpur around 1am on Monday.

The driver of the truck ignored the signal and crushed the policemen on duty to death. However, the cops posted at the nearby police station chased the truck and seized it. The driver and the cleaner had fled the spot.

The deceased were identified as Vijay Choudhary, havildar, Farman Ansari, Munna Choudhary, constables, and special auxiliary police jawan Vishwa Mohan Sharma. The driver was identified as Sanjiv Choudhary from Vaishali.