Two young men were killed after an unidentified vehicle hit their motorcycle on the Giridih-Ranchi road in Jharkhand late on Monday, prompting residents and family members to block the highway until senior officials assured them of administrative assistance and an investigation.
The victims were identified by police as Suraj Turi, 22, and Tulsi Das, 21. Both lived in Baddiha village under the limits of Muffassil police station in Giridih district. Police said the two were returning home from a friend’s birthday celebration when the collision took place.
The crash led to a protest on the Giridih-Ranchi road, with villagers and relatives stopping traffic to demand action. The blockade continued until around 3 am on Tuesday, when senior officials held talks with the protesters and assured them that the administration would provide assistance to the victims’ families.
Sub-divisional police officer Jeetvahan Oraon, circle officer Jitendra Prasad and other police officers were involved in the discussions, according to the report. Officials also assured residents that efforts would be made to identify and trace the vehicle involved in the collision.
Muffassil police station officer in-charge Gyan Ranjan said the vehicle that hit the motorcycle had not yet been identified. “An unidentified vehicle hit the motorcycle, leading to the deaths. A search is under way to identify and trace the vehicle. The post-mortem report is awaited,” he said.
The police investigation is therefore focused on establishing the identity of the vehicle and its driver. The post-mortem examination is also pending, and the report had not specified whether any arrest had been made at the time of publication.
The incident has also placed attention on the consequences that follow fatal crashes on busy inter-district roads. In this case, the road blockade became the immediate channel through which relatives and villagers sought an official response, before talks with the administration led to the protest being withdrawn.
Suraj’s father told the report that his son had been living in the village after getting married a few months earlier. The identities of the victims, the location of their village and the police-led search are now part of the case record as investigators work to trace the unidentified vehicle.
Police are expected to continue the search and await the post-mortem findings as the next formal steps in the investigation.
