‘Almost died being dragged behind the truck,’ recount survivors of Delhi’s Shastri Park truck mayhem

New Delhi, August 26

Two rickshaw-pullers, who had a narrow escape after a truck ran over people sleeping on the divider in northeast Delhi road, said they felt like riding a high-speed boat with a current flowing through them as they were dragged by the vehicle.

Istekar, 43, and Deepak, 32, dodged death when a truck allegedly ran over them.

The three who were sleeping on the same footpath were not so lucky.

“We both were sleeping side by side, and got entangled with a rope dangling from the truck. The vehicle dragged us for a distance. It felt like a current was flowing through us,” Istekar said.

Istekar, who lost his wife in an accident some years back and has four children to look after, pulls a rickshaw in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar market.

He said he was sleeping on a thick foam sheet when he woke up to a commotion with a string around his neck.

“A rope was around my neck and I was being dragged along with my foam sheet. It felt like I was in a high speed boat,” he said.

He said he also heard someone else shouting and soon realised that Deepak was also being dragged just behind him.

“The rope was so hot that it hurt my hands. I am alive now but I could be dead like the other three,” Deepak said.

It was a long rope and the two could only extricate it from their necks after the truck stopped at some distance.

The two were so terrified they just left the place and did not even go to the police.

Istekar sustained injuries all over his body, while Deepak on his neck and hands.

The two said though there is a shelter home nearby, it has a capacity of just 10 beds, which are always occupied, so they are forced to sleep on a roadside.

They said they live here alone while their families are back in their villages.

It is fortunate that this incident did not happen on Saturday, when there were many more people sleeping on the divider and footpath because of a power cut, they said.

Three men died after a canter truck allegedly ran over five men sleeping on a footpath in the Shastri Park area in the early hours of Monday.

The alleged incident occurred at Tarbuz market near Shastri Park Metro Station around 4.30 am.