Truck driver murdered, vehicle found abandoned in Jharkhand's Dumka

Giridih, Nov 19 (PTI) Police have found the missing iron rod-loaded truck from near Saraiyahat in Jharkhand's Dumka district, an officer said.

The body of the truck driver had been recovered earlier from Giridih district on November 16, police said.

Bagodar Police Station Officer-in-Charge, Vinay Kumar Yadav, told PTI that they had found the unidentified body of a 25-year-old person on the night of November 16 "It was only after the truck was recovered at Dumka that we could get the clue about the identity of the truck driver, identified as Dhiraj Kumar, a native of Khagaria district in Bihar. We are probing the incident, and the criminals might have murdered the driver to steal the iron rod-laden truck, but had to abandon the truck at Dumka after fearing getting caught by police," said Yadav.

The police officer said the truck owner, Ranjit Roy, a native of West Bardhaman district of West Bengal, had told them that the truck was loaded at Raniganj on November 15 and was going to Banaras in Uttar Pradesh when the incident happened. The truck owner further claimed that they lost contact with the driver on November 16 as his mobile was found switched off.

Saraiyahat Police Station Officer-in-Charge, Jay Prakash Das, told PTI that the truck owner tracking the GPS installed in the truck arrived at Bhalua Mode on NH-133 in Saraiyahat, where the truck was found abandoned.

"The truck owner got in touch with us. We have seized the truck and got in touch with Bagodar Police, who informed us about the recovery of the driver's body. A case has been registered at Bagodar Police Station, and we will hand over the truck to Bagodar Police," said Das.

Police sources said that the criminals had planned to take the truck to Bihar after murdering the driver in Bagodar. However, they had to abandon the truck near Bhalua Mode on Monday late at night, fearing being caught by police after seeing the police inspection at the spot following the death of two persons in a road accident at the same spot. PTI ANB RG