Kota: Two suspected drug smugglers died after jumping off a bridge into the Chambal River while trying to escape police on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Kota district early Tuesday morning.The deceased were identified as Chain Singh Lodha, a resident of Baran district, and Raj Singh of Sajipur Kala, Sangrur district in Punjab.The incident during a routine vehicle check by Special Task Team (DST) of Kota Rural Police near Simlia toll plaza on National Highway 27 (Baran-Kota Road). A suspicious Baleno car with a Uttar Pradesh registration number was signalled to stop, but the driver breached the checkpoint and sped towards Delhi on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Kota Rural, Ramkalyan Meena, said the police seized the abandoned UP-registered vehicle and retrieved the discarded plastic bags from the bushes, which contained 117.2kg of poppy husk (doda chura).Police launched a chase that continued for nearly 25 km. During the chase, the suspects abandoned nine plastic bags containing contraband in roadside bushes along the highway. As police closed in, the suspects drove to the Chambal River bridge, abandoned the car on the bridge, and jumped into the river to evade arrest. Both men drowned. Emergency rescue teams later retrieved the bodies from the river.
