Staff Reporter :
The truck driver responsible for killing of three family members in Trishal of Mymensingh recently was held in Dhaka by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
RAB sources said that the driver Raju Ahmed Shipon had not any valid documents to drive a heavy vehicle. Even his only driving licence for driving a medium-sized vehicle was lost six years ago.
Even the documents and the fitness certificate of the truck were invalid as well, RAB said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
RAB spokesman Commander Khandaker Al Moin said that Shipon managed to flee the scene by boarding a bus and a truck soon after the incident.
However, the truck driver was eventually arrested in Savar on Monday, he added.
According to RAB, the driver Shipon was carrying mangoes and potatoes almost without a break from Bagha of Rajshahi district before the accident occurred.
“The driver said that his helper was sleeping while the accident happened,” Khandaker Al Moin said.
“Soon after the accident, the agitated protesters cordoned off the truck. But Shipon managed to flee the spot. He then went to Muktagachha by auto-rickshaw,” he added.
From there, the driver took another bus and went into hiding with the assistance of other fellow drivers in Tangail, he said adding that Shipon then reached Savar by another truck.
Finally, RAB arrested the truck driver from Savar on Monday.
Earlier on July 16, the truck driver killed three persons, including a pregnant woman, after they were hit by the truck on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Trishal in Mymensingh.
However, the injured eight-month-pregnant woman gave birth to a baby girl on the fateful day, before succumbing to her injuries. The newborn survived miraculously.
The deceased were Jahangir Alam, 40, his pregnant wife Ratna Begum, 30, and their daughter Sanjida Khatun, 6.
The truck hit the family members when they were attempting to cross the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway near the Khan Diagnostic Centre for Ratna’s Ultrasonography.
Jahangir’s father Mostafizur Rahman Bablu subsequently filed a case with the Trishal Police Station on Sunday.
The newborn is now under the custodian of the baby’s grandparents but Mostafizur and his wife Sufia Akter have physical disabilities. So they have sought the government assistance.
Even another son of the family was killed in different road accident in 2004, sources said.
According to RAB, Shipon first ran into an accident in Jashore when he was a helper for a truck in 2002.
Though he secured a licence to drive a smaller vehicle, he began to drive heavy vehicle like truck.
