This isn’t a Bollywood high-profile hit-and-run so there were no flashbulbs here when early this morning, four construction workers in Surat were killed after a police van ran over five of them sleeping in a vacant plot. The van’s driver, employed with the police, and three other policemen, said to be in the van, fled the scene.The driver, Arvind Khairnar, was arrested 12 hours after the incident at 2 pm and has been booked for ‘‘endangering human life with reckless driving and negligence.’’ His blood has been sent for an alcohol-level test.The four who died on the spot are Deetabhai Damor, Rakesh Maliwad, Vinod Lima and Thavriben Budhar while the fifth, Prabhu Damor, received serious leg injuries and has been admitted to the New Civil Hospital.Deetabhai’s son Ramesh told The Indian Express: ‘‘I was sleeping inside the hut when I heard screams from outside. I rushed out to see my father and three of my relatives lying in a pool of blood. An hour after the accident, the policemen arrived along with an ambulance. Two to three policemen told us to help load the bodies onto the ambulance. I begged them to allow me in but they told me to stay away.’’Said Police Commissioner V K Gupta: ‘‘It was an accident. We will hold a departmental inquiry against the driver and also investigate the cause.’’Additional Commissioner of Police, Range-I, Mohan Jha said: ‘‘It is an unfortunate accident. We have arrested the accused and strict action will be taken against him. We have provided transport facility to the relatives of the deceased for taking the bodies to their home towns for the last rites.’’Deetabhai Damor and Rakesh Maliwad were from Rajasthan, Vinod Lima and Thavriben Budhar from the Panchmahals. They had been staying on this plot for the last 15 days employed at a nearby construction site. There are around 25 people who sleep on this plot and the victims were just seven feet off the road.Eyewitness Chhagan Kadalkiabhai, who was sleeping beside the victims, said, ‘‘There were three policemen along with the driver inside the van.’’ Rakabhai Damor, another eyewitness, alleged: ‘‘The driver was drunk. On several occasions in the past, we’ve seen the van parked on the roadside and those inside consuming liquor.’’
