Two Punjab police personnel, who were part of the security detail of state education minister Sikander Singh Maluka, were today killed in a freak mishap after being thrown off the pilot car of his convoy.
The minister, who was in another car trailing the escort vehicle, escaped unhurt in the mishap which occurred on Chandigarh-Delhi national highway.
The deceased have been identified as Harbans and Gurmeet Singh, hailing from Bathinda and Mansa, respectively.
According to sources, the driver of the pilot car was forced to suddenly hit the brakes after noticing severed power cables lying on the road due at Kundli in Haryana's Sonepat in the morning today. The wires had snapped in the heavy rain.
"The two policemen, sitting in the back portion of the vehicle, fell off when the brakes were applied.
"As there was no divider on that stretch, the duo rolled on to the (adjacent lane) and got crushed (under the wheels of an SUV coming from the opposite direction)," Maluka told PTI over the phone.
The minister was on his way to Delhi from Chandigarh to attend a meeting in the national capital.
"It was raining heavily and visibility was low," Maluka said, adding that it was an "unfortunate incident".
It has been pouring since morning at most places across Haryana, Punjab and the Union territory of Chandigarh.
The bodies have been sent to Sonepat for a post-mortem, police added.
