Minutes Before Rajasthan Trucker Hit Vehicles, He Argued With A Car Driver

Minutes before he went berserk on the roads of Jaipur, ramming multiple vehicles and killing 14 people, the driver of the uncontrolled dumper truck had an argument with another car driver on the road.

In CCTV footage, which was recorded minutes before Kalyan Meena went on a rampage on Monday afternoon, a car was seen stopping on the road in front of the dumper truck. The car driver then gets off and goes to talk to the truck driver.

Seconds later, the car drives off slowly but appears to be obstructing the truck's way. The truck driver then overtakes the vehicle and drives onto the wrong side of the road. Police officials said he drove on the wrong side of the road for about 700 metres and then came back onto the main road, running over vehicles in a rage.

A senior police official told NDTV that eyewitnesses at the spot said that the dumper driver and a car had an argument near a petrol pump, after which the car waylaid the truck and stopped the driver, which was seen on the CCTV accessed by NDTV.

The official said that to bypass the car, the truck driver went on the wrong side of the road.

"There are several CCTV versions of the accident available, as it's a busy market area. The police are studying and verifying all of them. It is definitely part of the investigation if the truck driver had an altercation with someone before he caused the accident, and that will be looked into," Rahul Prakash, Jaipur Commissioner, Special Operations, told NDTV.

"This driver also has another previous case against him for rash and negligent driving. That case was registered in 2024 in Ajeetgarh, Sikar, and will be part of the investigation as well. His blood samples have also been taken, and the blood report on how much alcohol he had consumed will establish what state of mind the driver was in," he said.

Kalyan Meena, prima facie, the police said, appeared to be drunk and drove on the wrong side in a rage.

Eyewitnesses said he appeared to be driving the truck at 100 kilometres per hour before ramming 14 vehicles, running over three pedestrians and hitting another truck.

He was then thrashed by locals and is being treated in a private hospital. The police said that he has not suffered major injuries but is being kept in the ICU.