Kendrapara: A homeguard was run over by a speeding pickup truck in Odisha’s Kendrapara district Wednesday when he tried to stop it as part of a vehicle checking drive, police said.
The incident happened at Balabhadrapur chowk on National Highway 53, they said.
The speeding van mowed down Pabitra Kumar Mohapatra when he tried to stop it, police said.
The driver of the speeding vehicle was apparently escaping an enforcement squad of the Regional Transport Office (RTO), they said.
“We have seized the vehicle at Laxminarayanpur Square. However, the driver is absconding. A special squad has been constituted to nab the driver,” a police officer said.
Following the incident, irate locals blocked the highway, demanding compensation for the deceased’s family.
The protest paralysed traffic on the busy highway that connects Paradip port to the mineral-rich hinterlands in Jajpur and Keonjhar districts.
PTI