The death toll in the gas tanker accident that took place on the Hoshiarpur–Jalandhar National Highway at village Mandiala on Friday night rose to seven after four more victims succumbed to injuries late Saturday. Three others injured in the incident were discharged from the hospital.
Those killed have been identified as tanker driver Sukhjit Singh, Balwant Rai, Dharmendra Verma, Manjit Singh, Vijay, Jaswinder Kaur and Aradhana Verma.
Police have booked five persons in the case and arrested four of them, while the fifth accused, the tanker driver, also lost his life in the accident. Investigations revealed that the accused were engaged in stealing gas from tankers, refilling it into smaller cylinders and selling them in the black market.
The gang’s kingpin has been identified as Sukhchain alias Sukkha of Dheha village, along with Avtar Singh of Jandi village, and Ramesh Kumar and Raj Kumar of Lamma Pind in Jalandhar. From their possession, police recovered 50 cylinders, nine drums and nozzles used for siphoning gas. Officials confirmed that Avtar Singh already has seven criminal cases against him.
Senior Superintendent of Police said during interrogation Sukhchain admitted he used to pay tanker drivers Rs 1,000 per cylinder, while the same was sold in the market for Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400. To avoid suspicion, only a small amount of gas was withdrawn from each tanker, with three to four cylinders filled at a time.