KANPUR: A 26-year-old constable died and three other policemen were injured in the early hours of Wednesday after being hit by a speeding tempo on the highway in the Akbarpur area of Kanpur Dehat district, officials said.
The incident took place when the policemen were trying to help a drunkard lying on the highway. The drunkard, whose identity has not been established, was also killed in the accident.
Among the three injured policemen was a sub-inspector, a senior police official said, adding they have been admitted to the hospital.
Sub-inspector Mathura Prasad, along with head constable Arvind Kumar and constables Saurabh Kumar and Vivek Kumar, was on patrol when he found a drunkard lying on the highway at Madhapur bridge, Additional SP (Kanpur Dehat) Rajesh Kumar Pandey said.
The police personnel immediately jumped from their vehicle and as constable Vivek Kumar tried to pull up the drunkard, a speeding loader tempo hit him and he fell from the bridge and died, Pandey said.
The other policemen sustained serious injuries in their hands, legs and waist and were taken to the district hospital from where constable Saurabh was shifted to regency hospital, he said.
Deceased Vivek Kumar, a native of Saharanpur, had joined the Uttar Pradesh Police in 2019. He was posted at Akbarpur police station, the ASP added.
Meanwhile, police arrested the erring driver who was identified as Surendra Kumar Gupta (40), a resident of Delhi, and the vehicle was also seized, said another official.
ASP Pandey told PTI that the body of the constable was handed over to his family after the postmortem.
After getting information about the constable's death, top officials, including district police chief BBGTS Murthy, reached the incident site.
An FIR has been registered under IPC sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), 337 and 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life of others), police said.