Who is the Accused in the Jabalpur Hit-and-Run as Death Toll Rises to Five?
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Bhopal/Jabalpur, Jan 19 (NationPress) The police in Madhya Pradesh announced on Monday that they have successfully identified the driver involved in a tragic hit-and-run incident that claimed the lives of 13 labourers, resulting in both fatalities and injuries in Jabalpur.
A senior police official informed IANS that the identified suspect "will soon be apprehended by law enforcement," though specifics regarding the number of individuals involved were not disclosed.
Currently, the death toll stands at five, while the government has officially acknowledged only four fatalities resulting from the incident.
The Public Works Department Minister, Rakesh Singh, revealed that an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each has been approved for the families of the deceased, with Rs 1 lakh to be disbursed immediately.
The unfortunate event occurred when a car, driven recklessly, struck a group of 14 labourers who were on a break after working on a National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) project.
Two labourers died on the spot, and three more succumbed to their injuries later that night while receiving medical care.
According to reports from the government hospital, victims Nawabi Lal (40), Varsha (45), and Krishna Bai (40) passed away overnight during treatment, while three other labourers remain in critical condition. The others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
All labourers hailed from Biharia and Bamhori in the Bijadandi area of Mandla district. They had migrated to work on the highway, engaging in tasks such as painting grills and installing road divider railings, and were taking their lunch break by the roadside near Ekta Chowk in the Barela police station vicinity when the speeding white car struck them around 2 p.m.
The vehicle fled the scene without a visible registration plate, prompting police to intensify their search efforts, reviewing CCTV footage and establishing checkpoints in response to early reports aimed at locating the driver.