Truck ploughs into devotees outside Gwalior temple, killing 14; eight police suspended

At least 14 people were killed and 28 injured when a speeding truck ran into devotees outside the Sheetla Mata temple in Gwalior in the early hours of Sunday, crashed through roadside shops and brought down part of the temple wall on those queuing at its gate.

The truck, loaded with paddy and carrying a Punjab registration, came down a slope on Chinor Road at about 1:30 am, went into an area closed to heavy vehicles and hit the temple’s entrance gate. People were trapped under the debris of the wall. Two police personnel on duty were among the injured, and seven people were in a critical condition, according to the state government.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav removed Gwalior’s City Superintendent of Police and suspended eight police personnel: three station house officers, a traffic inspector, a head constable and three constables.

“The accident occurred because the truck entered a prohibited area,” Yadav said. “No negligence will be tolerated at any level in public safety.”

A slope and a no-entry zone

District Collector Ruchika Chauhan described the stretch as steep with a sharp gradient. Rescuers had to take a tyre off and use a jack to free people from under the truck, and clearing the vehicle took several hours. The dead were taken to Jaya Arogya Hospital and the injured to hospitals across the city, including the trauma centre, where Deputy Chief Minister Rakesh Shukla visited them.

The driver, Dilbag Singh, and the vehicle’s owner, Mohit Singh, were reported to have been arrested.

The temple draws large crowds during Navratri, and families of the victims asked how a loaded truck could get into a lane where, they said, even a bicycle could not pass. Some also complained of delays in getting the injured to hospital.

The families

Pawan Rathore, 23, of Gadaipur in Gwalior’s Hazira area, was among the dead. So was Sarla Tomar, whose nephew Lokendra Singh Tomar spoke to reporters outside the hospital. A relative of Nikesh, who is on a ventilator with both legs fractured, said the family got a call at about 5 am.

Eleven of the 14 dead had been identified by Sunday afternoon.

Aid and inquiry

The Madhya Pradesh government will pay ₹4 lakh to the family of each person killed, ₹2 lakh to the seriously injured and ₹50,000 to those with minor injuries, and will meet the cost of treatment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ₹2 lakh from the PM’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each of the dead and ₹50,000 for each injured person.

“Distressed to learn about the loss of lives due to a mishap in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the accident was “deeply tragic” and that “all possible medical assistance is being provided to the injured.”

Yadav has ordered a detailed inquiry to fix responsibility and asked the district administration for a report.