Truck driver flees after killing baby, injuring couple on bike in Bengaluru; nabbed from Andhra Pradesh
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Bengaluru: What began as a joyful shopping outing to buy a sofa-cum-bed for their newborn son turned into a nightmare no parent should ever face. Thirty-year-old Michal Nithian J and his wife Sara Sherpa were returning home from IKEA in Nagasandra on their motorbike with their four-month-old baby Zeno Macadam M, their first and only child, after picking the furniture when a tragedy shattered their lives.
Minutes after crossing the Kuvempu underpass on MES Road in Jalahalli at 10.45pm, a truck rammed their bike from behind.
The force of the collision flung the young family onto the road. The truck didn't stop. It crushed Sara's left leg and left Michal and Zeno grievously injured. Despite the presence of bystanders, help came from only one source, a woman passing by in a car. She stopped and lifted the injured trio with help from a few reluctant onlookers, and rushed them to MS Ramaiah Hospital.
But the damage was too severe. Zeno, who had suffered a critical head injury, fought for his life for hours but succumbed around 5.20am on June 9. Michal survived with injuries to his eyes and lungs. His wife, Sara, was left with severe injuries from head to toe and remains in critical condition.
When police at Jalahalli traffic station were alerted through a medico-legal report, they acted swiftly. Michal, though heavily injured, could only recall a "green bus" striking their bike before everything went dark.
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The clue seemed vague, but it was enough.
Inspector Shekara G of Jalahalli traffic police assembled multiple teams. CCTV footage from the vicinity showed a green truck, not a bus, pausing for just three seconds near the crash site before speeding away. Though the registration number wasn't visible, one thing stood out: the truck had a unique decorative blinker light, flashing non-stop.
That blinking light would soon become the key to cracking the case.
One police team followed the truck's forward path, tracking it from Tumakuru Road to Hebbal and then onto Bengaluru-Ballari highway. At Sadahalli toll plaza, the FASTag data revealed the truck's registration number: HR-73-A-0291. Simultaneously, another team traced the truck's origin. They found it had offloaded goods in Peenya on June 7 and was en route back to Haryana on June 8, the night of the accident.
With the registration number in hand, police contacted the truck owner and obtained the driver's phone number.
By then, officers had sifted through over 100 CCTV camera feeds, tracing the truck's route inch by inch. Mobile tower triangulation pinpointed the driver's current location: Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.
Knowing time was running out, the Jalahalli team alerted Kurnool police, who relayed the alert to Kothakota police station. As the truck was about to cross the district border, officers moved in and detained the vehicle and its driver.
That same night, Jalahalli police reached Kothakota and brought the driver back to Bengaluru, along with the truck that had ended a young life and nearly destroyed a family.
The driver has since been arrested and released on station bail.
Fighting back tears, Michal told TOI: "We went to buy a sofa for our baby. Now we have lost him. My wife is battling for life. That truck crushed our dreams."
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