3 die as car crashes into truck that braked suddenly on NH-8

Gurgaon: Three persons died and two suffered serious injuries when the car in which they were travelling crashed into a truck that had slammed the brakes all of a sudden on the Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH-8) on Wednesday night.
Ravi Yadav (26), who is in the Army, and his four friends were returning from Rewari when the accident occurred near Bilaspur Chowk on the highway.
His friends have been identified by police as Sachin and Kuldeep of Bhora Kalan village, Harsh from Pataudi, and Jatin of Gurgaon. The five were in a Maruti Baleno owned by Ravi.
“It was around 8pm and we were on our way back to Gurgaon. No sooner did we reach the Bilaspur Chowk, the truck that was moving ahead of us braked suddenly,” Ravi told TOI from his hospital bed.
Jatin was driving the Baleno. Since the distance between the two vehicles was only a few metres, by the time Jatin slammed the brakes, it was too late.
The car crashed into the rear of the truck and was badly mangled.
“Such was the impact of the crash that Ravi and the others lost consciousness. By the time they came to, a large crowd had gathered around the site. Some passersby called up police and took the occupants of the car to a nearby hospital. We were informed by the cops,” said Mahesh, Ravi’s father-in-law.
While Jatin was declared dead on arrival, Kuldeep and Harsh were referred to a private hospital after their condition deteriorated.
They, too, succumbed to their injuries on Friday. Ravi and Sachin are under observation, doctors said.
“Some passersby called us to inform about the accident. Our teams rushed to the spot and joined the rescue work. The truck driver had fled by then, leaving the vehicle behind. All those travelling in the car were aged between 22 and 26. We have formed teams to trace the driver. He will be arrested soon,” said inspector Rahul Dev from the Bilaspur police station.
An FIR has been registered against the unknown driver under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 337 (whoever causes hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life, or the personal safety of others), and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Bilaspur police station.