Driver Raju was carrying 13.5 tons on 7-ton truck

Driver Md Raju alias Sipon was carrying almost twice as much goods than the capacity on the truck.

Losing balance, he drove the truck into a pregnant woman, her husband and their daughter. They were waiting to cross the road at Trishal, Mymensingh.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the driver Raju from Savar, Dhaka, on Monday.

RAB organised a press briefing in this regard at the its Media Centre in Karwan Bazar of the capital area on Tuesday.

Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB’s legal and media wing reveales these details during the press briefing.

On Saturday afternoon, Jahangir Alam (42), his pregnant wife Ratna Begum (42) and their 6-year-old daughter Sanjida died after being run over by the truck at Court Building area in Trishal on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.

As Ratna Begum died under the wheels of the truck, she gave birth to the infant inside her womb. The newborn is now undergoing treatment at Mymensingh Medical College.

Following the accident, the truck was seized by police, but the driver had escaped. After arresting the driver, RAB members interrogated him.

RAB said, after examining the documents they found that Raju didn’t have the permit to drive heavy vehicles. He only had a license to drive medium-sized vehicles. However, that too expired in 2016.

Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB’s legal and media wing said, the truck had a capacity of only seven tons, but there was carrying 13.4 tons during the accident.

RAB said, Raju had been driving for five days at a stretch, since 11 July. On the day of the accident in Trishal, he was going towards Kishoreganj’s Tarail, carrying mangoes from Chapainawabganj and potatoes and onions from Rajshahi’s Nowhata.

RAB said, driver Raju have been in jail before. He was an assistant to a driver from Jashore in 2002. He injured his left leg in an accident then. That leg is still crippled.

RAB added, during interrogation Raju has claimed that his truck was being followed by a passenger bus, which was honking constantly. He tried to move his truck towards the left to let the bus overtake. The brakes of his truck failed and he lost control.

Raju has claimed to RAB that he hadn’t seen the family standing next to the road.

RAB also said, the owner of the truck is a businessman named Monzur from Rajshahi. At the time of the accident, truck driver Raju’s assistant Khairul was asleep.