Top office-bearer of sports body among 2 killed as tanker collides with car in Goa; one held

Panaji, Nov 4 (PTI) A top office-bearer of a national association of a sport and its international referee were killed after a speeding tanker jumped a road divider and crashed into their car on a highway in North Goa district on Tuesday morning, police said.

The police arrested the tanker driver under the culpable homicide charge, they said.

The victims were identified as President of All India Sepak Takraw Association Yogender Singh (42) and an international referee of the sport Ankit Kumar Baliyan (34), the police said.

Sepak takraw or sepaktakraw is also known as 'kick volleyball'.

The accident occurred when the tanker was proceeding from Bambolim towards Panaji.

On reaching the Bambolim slope, the tanker driver, identified as Rahul Sarwade (37), allegedly lost control of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle jumped the road divider and entered the opposite carriageway meant for vehicles heading from Panaji to Bambolim, a police official said.

The tanker then collided with an oncoming car and overturned, crossing the service road on the opposite side, the official said.

The car occupants - Singh, who was at the wheel, and Baliyan - were declared dead at the Goa Medical College and Hospital, located few metres away from the accident site, he said.

Goa Sepak Takraw Association President and former state Deputy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar said that both the victims were in the coastal state to attend the Senior National Sepak Takraw Championship held at Manohar Parrikar Stadium at Navelim in South Goa.

The competition was held from October 23-27.

Speaking to PTI from the GMCH, where the mortal remains of the victims have been kept, Kavlekar said Singh and Baliyan were heading towards South Goa from Panaji when the accident occurred in the early hours.

The police arrested the driver of the tanker for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the official said.

Sepak takraw is a team sport that is commonly played among teams of two to four players on a court resembling a badminton court. It is a combination of volleyball and footvolley as the players play this sport using only their feet, knees, shoulders, chest and head to touch the ball. PTI RPS GK NP