Chatra (Jharkhand): A journalist was among four people who were killed after a coal-laden truck hit two motorcycles in separate incidents in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, police said Friday. The accidents took place near Banhe village in Simaria police station area Thursday night.
The truck first hit the journalist’s motorcycle and then rammed into another motorcycle on which three people, who are yet to be identified, were travelling, a police officer said. The truck has been seized but no arrests have been made so far. The driver managed to flee.
Locals blocked the movement of coal-laden trucks on roads from Simaria to Hazaribag, Chatra and Tandwa demanding adequate compensation to the deceased from Central Coalfields Ltd lifted it. The blockade was lifted after BJP’s Simaria MLA Kisun Kumar Das assured the agitators of facilitating adequate compensation and jobs to the next of the kin of the deceased. Das said he spoke to the Central Coalfields Ltd management in this regard.
Local journalist bodies have demanded Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the next of the kin of Shashi Bhushan Singh, who was a journalist in Hindi newspaper ‘Awaj’.
The four bodies were retrieved from the protesters early Friday morning. They were agitating since Thursday night, and sent for post-mortem examination.
Earlier, SDO Sudhir Das and SDPO Ashok Priyadarshi reached the spot and promised a compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased.
