BHUBANESWAR: Investigation into the Ganjam hit-and-run case on Haladiapadar road overbridge (ROB) that claimed five lives in January this year and drew the attention of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) has brought to fore that the truck driver involved in the mishap had killed two persons in a similar fashion nine years ago.
In a detailed report to the Home department recently, the CID-CB of Odisha Police stated that accused Pradeep Jani was involved in another fatal road accident that claimed two lives within Digapahandi police limits back in 2017.
Referring to the January Haladiapadar ROB accident case, the CB report stated that Jagan Nahak and Rakesh Nahak, both residents of Nimakhandi, were returning to their village on a motorcycle when the speeding truck driven by Jani hit them from behind, leading to their deaths on the spot. During his attempt to flee, Jani hit two other motorcycles coming from the opposite side and claimed three other lives on the same ROB.
“Jani has been driving the truck owned by one Bishnu Priya Sahu for the last four to five months. His blood sample was collected and sent to SFSL in Bhubaneswar for examination. Gosaninuagaon police registered a case and the probe is underway,” the CB said.
The report further revealed that the trial of the accident case registered against Jani by Digapahandi police nine years ago is still underway. Jani has a record of rash and negligent driving and Berhampur police sent his licence to the authorities concerned for cancellation as per the law. Besides this, the truck was seized and the information uploaded on Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD).
Considering the gravity of the incident, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) had last month sought a government report on the Haladiapadar ROB on NH-16. The committee’s intervention came despite the state government having already initiated a separate probe into the alleged faulty geometric design of the ROB.
SCCoRS had asked chief secretary Anu Garg to submit a detailed report by March 5 describing the possible causes of the mishap and safety measures proposed to be taken to prevent such accidents in the future.
In its report, the CB also mentioned that the Haladiapadar ROB connecting Gosaninuagaon to NH-16 has been identified as a black spot as it has witnessed 28 road accidents since 2019 claiming 13 lives and injuring 23 others.
The agency said due to the design flaw of the ROB, both two-wheelers and cars can be regularly seen driving on the wrong side to the connecting road, leading to frequent traffic snarls and road accidents.