By Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network—Bantwal (RD/CN)

Bantwal, Jan 11: A truck rolled over into a gorge near B C Road Circle, on National Highway (NH) 48, resulted in the death of the cleaner of the truck who was learning to drive in the absence of the driver, on Sunday January 10.

The deceased has been identified as 30-year-old Raju, a resident of Maggi, near Sakleshpur in Hassan district.

The licensed driver Riyaz, a resident of Kushalanagar, near Sakleshpur, had brought his truck to Benjanapadav, to transport quarry stones.  

Riyaz had parked the truck near Highway Palace Hotel, Panemangalore, on Sunday morning and entrusted it to the cleaner while he went to visit his mother-in-law residing at Athoor, near Uppinangady.

The inexperienced cleaner maneuvered the truck and drove for a few kilometers before the vehicle fell into a sixty feet deep gorge on the highway near B C Road Circle on Sunday evening.  

Raju was critically injured under the wheel as a result of the impact.  Bantwal town sub-inspector Rafiq Tahsildar and other policemen tried to save Raju by quickly taking him to the Government Hospital here, but in vain.

Town police have registered a case in this regard.

Meanwhile, the rumor spread among the onlookers at the accident spot that one more person who had accompanied Raju in the truck was also crushed under the toppled truck.  The policemen had a tough time controlling the crowd that gathered on the spot.