The damaged oil tanker at Hatigaon on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Sept. 11: A 22-year-old engineering student died on the spot after he came under the wheels of an oil tanker at Hatigaon this afternoon.

The incident angered the commuters on the road, who attacked the oil tanker and broke the windscreen of the vehicle.

Police and CRPF personnel rushed to the spot as residents blocked the Hatigaon-Ganeshguri road affecting traffic on the route for 30 minutes.

The police said the incident took place at 2.50pm when Biman Kalita, the fifth semester student of an engineering institute, was on his way to Ganeshguri from Hatigaon on a scooter (AS01-AV 5379).

He came under the wheels of the tanker while trying to overtake a cycle-rickshaw in front of Little Flower School.

“The scooter and the tanker were coming from the same side. Eyewitnesses told us that his scooter fell while overtaking the rickshaw from behind and the boy came under the wheels of the tanker. His head was crushed under the wheels and he died on the spot. We found his helmet a little distance away,” an officer at Hatigaon police station said.

Kalita, a resident of Chandanagar, was a student of an engineering institute in Mirza.

“He was a good student and was coming to the city as it was Sunday,” the police officer said.

The body has been sent for post-mortem to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

The police seized the oil tanker bearing registration number AS-25B-9693 and a case has been registered under the Motor Vehicles Act.

“We spoke to the eyewitnesses and seized the oil tanker. We have begun a probe to find out who was at fault,” the officer said.

Following the incident, the driver of the oil tanker, Raju Singh, a resident of Hojai in Nagaon district, fled from the spot and later surrendered at Dispur police station.

Sources said he was taken into custody.