CHENNAI: A 44-year-old head constable died on Wednesday night after he fell on the road, when his motorbike went into a pothole and was run over by a speeding Chennai Corporation garbage truck.
The accident occurred on Mullai Nagar-SM road junction, a stretch of cement road that regular
commuters say is slippery and filled with gravel, rocks and sand.
It is also frequented by garbage trucks plying to the Kodungaiyur dumpyard.
The victim, Palani Kumar (44), a 2003-batch policeman, was a resident of the St Thomas Mount police quarters. He was a head constable at the Kodungaiyur police station and a Level-II intelligence cop for MKB Nagar and Vyasarpadi police station.
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"On Wednesday night he was going to Vyasarpadi police station from MKB Nagar police station, with some documents on his Splendor bike, plainclothes. At around 11.45 pm, when he was on the Mullai Nagar - SM road junction, his motorbike slipped over stones on the road and went into a pothole.
Palani lost control of the bike and fell onto the road when a speeding corporation garbage truck ran over his body crushing him to death," said an investigation police officer.
Onlookers called for an ambulance and his body was sent to the Government Stanley Hospital. The Pulianthope traffic investigation police registered a case and arrested A Francis, the truck driver, from Kodambakkam. Police said the garbage truck was plying from Anna Nagar towards the Kodungaiyur dumpyard.