A family's wedding preparations turned to mourning in Hanumangarh after a 25-year-old groom was killed in a horrific road accident just three days before his wedding was due to take place.
The victim, identified as Radheshyam Nayak, a resident of Chak Haripura, was riding his motorcycle to distribute wedding invitation cards in Pallu when the accident occurred on the Mega Highway, opposite Shyam Mandir. A speeding sleeper bus travelling from Jaipur to Ludhiana struck his motorcycle head-on. The bus driver did not stop after the collision and instead dragged Radheshyam, along with his bike, for approximately 500 metres. The impact was so severe that one of his hands and a leg were severed from his body, and he died on the spot.
Police said Radheshyam was due to be married on 5 September. Following the accident, his father, Budhram Nayak, filed a complaint against the bus driver at the Town police station.
According to the report his father gave to police, Radheshyam had left home around 4am on 2 September on his motorcycle to distribute wedding cards in Pallu. He had reached the point opposite Shyam Mandir on the Mega Highway when the sleeper bus, coming from the direction of Rawatsar, struck his motorcycle.
The complaint alleges that the bus driver was driving at high speed and negligently, and had brought the bus in from the wrong direction before ramming into Radheshyam's motorcycle head-on. Rather than stopping after the collision, the driver is alleged to have dragged the young man and his bike for around 500 metres.
According to Town police station ASI Rajaram Swami, the sleeper bus had set out from Jaipur and was headed to Ludhiana in Punjab. The accident occurred on the Mega Highway just before Naurangdesar. The bus driver fled the scene after the incident. Police reached the spot on being informed and had the bus removed from the road and parked safely. Radheshyam, who was critically injured in the accident, died on the spot. His body was kept in the mortuary of the Government Hospital, Town.
Police have registered a case against the bus driver under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), based on the father's complaint. ASI Rajaram Swami is investigating the case. Following the post-mortem, the body was handed over to the family. Radheshyam's wedding was to take place on 5 September, and his death just days before the ceremony, while he was out distributing wedding cards, has left the family devastated.