A Jalandhar-based journalist of a leading national daily was killed and an SSP seriously injured today when their vehicle fell into a ditch after being hit by a truck in a village on Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border near Pathankot district, police said here.
41-year-old Jasdeep Malhotra, Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, died on the spot while Pathankot SSP Surinder Kalia sustained head injuries this afternoon in Neelima village falling in Himachal Pradesh, police said, adding that the truck driver escaped from the spot with his vehicle.
The SSP was rushed to a private hospital in Pathankot after which he was taken to Fortis hospital in Mohali, they said.
The body of the scribe was handed over to his relatives after a postmortem examination at general hospital at Noorpur.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has expressed grief over Malhotra's demise, an official release in Chandigarh said.
Giving details of the incident, police sources said the Pathankot SSP, whose native place is in Jalandhar, was headed back to Pathankot from Jalandhar.
Malhotra was travelling to Pathankot from Jalandhar and photo journalist Pradeep Pandit was also accompanying him, they said. The duo met the SSP at Bhogpur in Jalandhar from where the scribe sat in Kalia's vehicle while Pandit followed them in another car.
When the vehicle reached Neelima village, a truck bearing a Jammu and Kashmir registration number hit their vehicle on the side, making it overturn and fall into a road-side ditch.
Malhotra died on the spot while the SSP sustained head injuries.
Police have registered a case in connection with the accident.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also condoled the death of the scribe.
