Vadodara: Dhumad junction continues to be a death trap for commuters

People cross the road at Dhumad junction on the Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway that has witnessed several fatal accidents. (Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Police are yet to establish the identity of the person whose crushed remains were recovered at the Dhumad junction on National Highway 8 (NH8), at the beginning of the Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway on September 15.

Harni police station, under whose jurisdiction the junction falls, has two similar cases from the same spot reported earlier where the bodies of the victims were crushed beyond recognition, thus leaving the cases unsolved yet.

Police Inspector R S Baria of Harni police station said, “It was only because of the long hair and shreds of clothing that we could ascertain the gender of the deceased to be a woman. But apart from that, we have not found any other identity proof. The body had been run over multiple times and it wasn’t even a body when we found it. We use a spade to gather whatever remains we can in such cases.”

An electricity bill bearing an address of Rajpipla Ian Narmada found near the body has also not helped the case. “The bill was of an address from Rajpipla in Narmada. On inquiring at the address, we learnt that it belonged to a provision shop in the market area. We were told that none of the family members of the owner or any staff member is missing. We are now probing how did the victim get the bill and also checking if there is any missing persons complaint in any areas close by,” Baria said.

Earlier, two similar fatal accidents also saw the bodies being crushed beyond recognition. While one such case from the same junction registered at Harni police station on April 8, 2019, of a woman being similarly mowed down and crushed, has remained unsolved, the second accident took place on August 18, 2020 — this time the deceased was a male.

Baria said, “In both the previous cases, the bodies have not been identified so far. As per the procedures, we collect the remains and send them to the SSG cold room where they are preserved for a week before being disposed of. A DNA sample is collected for future reference whenever any family stakes claim. The first case is undetected since April 2019.”

According to the police, the ends of the flyovers at Dhumad as well as the underpasses are prone to fatal accidents due to the speeding vehicles as well as careless road crossing. Baria said, “At night, especially, the junction is extremely accident prone. There are two or three blind spots because there are two flyovers recently constructed and the ends of the flyovers are almost blind dark at night. We believe that all three persons died while crossing the road when a speeding vehicle was unable to spot them.”

Baria added that the police has not considered installing a CCTV camera as the accidents occur mostly at night or twilight, which is of “no help in establishing any identity through CCTV”.

Makarpura police station, which also has a stretch of 11 kilometres of NH8 under its jurisdiction, has countless fatal accidents registered from blind spots near Jambuva but none has been unidentified.

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