Two Delhi cops crushed by call centre van

A Delhi Police assistant-sub inspector and a constable were killed while a head constable was left critically injured when a call centre van, asked to halt at a police barricade, ploughed into them, the police said Sunday.

The incident occurred shortly past Saturday midnight (12.45 a.m) in south Delhi's Kalindi Kunj area.

The call centre van was signalled to halt but it stopped only after dragging assistant sub-inspector Nagendra Pal Singh and constable Sawkar Prahlad Ram Rao for a few metres along with the police barricade, a police officer said adding that the van driver was drunk.

Head constable Kaptan Singh suffered injuries and was admitted to Apollo Hospital where his condition is said to be critical.

Because of the impact, the broken parts of the iron barricade got embedded in the policemen's bodies, a witness told the police, adding that the van's driver was in such an inebriated state that he could not come out of the vehicle by himself despite the accident. Other policemen reaching the site took him out of the vehicle.

Police arrested the driver from the spot and the vehicle, linked to a Noida-based call centre, was impounded, police said.

Assistant sub-inspector Nagendra Pal, a native of Uttar Pradesh, is survived by two sons and wife. He had joined the force as a constable in 1982.

Constable Sawkar Prahlad Ram Rao, a native of Maharashtra, is survived by two daughters and wife. He joined Delhi Police in 1994.