Moga, November 6
A 26-year-old trainee IAS officer from Bihar was killed and three of his colleagues were injured in a road accident on the Moga-Barnala road, around 15 km from here, early today.

The four were coming from Jalandhar and were headed to Takhtupura village in the Nihalsinghwala sub-division of the district when the Innova car in which they were travelling hit a tree and overturned.

The deceased has been identified as Nishant Kumar, a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Begu Sarai (Bihar). The injured include Shashi Ranjan and Ajit Kumar, both residents of Ranchi (Jharkhand), and Harsh Kumar, a resident of Kanpur (UP). The injured were taken to the district hospital for treatment.

The driver of the vehicle, Raj Kumar, a Jalandhar resident, was also injured in the accident. Ajit Kumar suffered multiple head injuries and was referred to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana where his condition was stated to be critical.

Villagers helped rescue the injured officers from the scene and take them to the district hospital.

District Magistrate Arshdip Singh Thind said a batch of 25 trainee IAS officers was on a visit to the district for rural training. While others were sent to different villages, those who met with an accident were residing at Takhtupura village.

Senior Superintendent of Police KJS Dhillon said preliminary investigations suggested the car was travelling at high speed when it rammed into a tree.

The IAS officers had gone to Jalandhar on Tuesday night to attend a party hosted by a friend, Prem Singh Malik, who works as an Assistant Commissioner in the Income Tax Department. Malik had sent his official car and a driver to drop the four to Takhtupura village. One of the injured trainee IAS officers was reportedly driving the car while the driver was sitting on the rear seat.