Ghaziabad: A 32-year-old cyclist was killed after he was mowed down by a truck in the Teela Mod area on Wednesday. Narendra Kumar, who worked as a gardener at the Hindon IAF air base station, was on his way to work when the incident happened.According to the police complaint filed by Kumar’s cousin Devendra, Kumar was cycling to work as usual when an unidentified vehicle struck his cycle from behind around 6am. The vehicle ran him over before fleeing the spot. A passerby from their village in Muradnagar who witnessed the incident recognised Narendra and informed the community.“Within 15-20 minutes, Kumar’s family members and a large number of villagers reached the spot. Police also arrived after receiving information about the accident,” Devendra said.Locals alleged that after the police arrived at the scene, they quickly sealed Kumar’s body and made no attempts to track down the vehicle. Angered, Kumar’s family and the locals refused to let them move the body, and staged a protest for around four hours at the spot.They demanded action against the accused driver and financial assistance for the victim’s family. Around 10.30am, the ACP reached the spot and assured the protestors they would take action against the accused. After talks with the ACP, the protest was called off and the body was moved.ACP (Shalimar Garden) Atul Kumar Singh said that a team was formed to nab the accused in the case. “We are checking the CCTV cameras of the nearby areas to identify the vehicle and driver. The process of registering an FIR is underway. The body was sent for an autopsy, and reports are awaited,” the ACP said.The hit-and-run and subsequent protest blocked traffic movement in the area for several hours. Police switched the road to one-way traffic movement and slowly cleared the vehicles stuck in a jam. Long queues of vehicles had formed at the spot, and commuters said they had to navigate long snarls. After the protest was called off, police cleared the area and traffic movement returned to normal.
