A truck coming from Bokaro crushed to death a Chas boy cycling to school on Thursday morning on the crowded but unmanned NH-23, which cuts the main marketplace.

Ashutosh Kumar Pandey (10), a Class V student who celebrated his birthday six days ago, died instantly, 100 metres away from Crescent Public School where he studied and 500 metres from his Sarvodaya Nagar home.

The accident took place at 9.45am when Ashutosh lost his balance after a passing van knocked his cycle down. The boy fell before a speeding truck, which crushed him.

The drivers of the truck and van have managed to escape. But bystanders, including shopkeepers managed to catch hold of the truck's khalasi (helper) Debu Kumar.

Bystanders informed Chas police, which recovered the body and send it to subdivisional hospital for post-mortem. The police handed over the body to the family in the afternoon for last rites.

The accident plunged Sarvodaya Nagar and Crescent Public School in grief.

Ashutosh's father Shailendra Pandey, who rushed from his workspace in Jamshedpur in the afternoon, fainted every now and then, a police source said. Mother Poonam and sister Shweta were numb with grief.

Teachers and school friends were also in shock. All remembered him as a bright boy, among three toppers in class, and how he had distributed sweets last Friday when he turned 10. A condolence-cum-prayer meeting was held on campus after which principal A.K. Gupta closed the school for the day.

Chas inspector Kamal Kishore said a case of rash driving was lodged against the truck driver. The truck laden with steel rods has been seized.