Belagavi (Karnataka), Jan 14 Karnataka Police have intensified the hunt for a canter truck involved in a hit-and-run case, in which state Minister for Women and Child Development Laxmi Hebbalkar narrowly escaped.
Minister Hebbalkar and her brother Congress MLC Channaraj Hattiholi sustained injuries in a car accident on January 14. She suffered fractures in the vertebrae and neck after her car crashed into a roadside tree near Kittur. She was discharged after 13 days from the hospital. She has stated after discharge that she feels like she was reborn.
Police sources stated on Friday that the investigations so far have indicated that the vehicle is from Punjab or Haryana region. The police have prepared a list of 60 canters based on the information gathered from the CCTV footage at the Hirebagewadi toll and launched a hunt. Police sources also stated that already they have verified 30 canters.
Belagavi Superintendent of Police (SP) Bheemashankar Guled said the police were verifying all canters which travelled on the national highway that day.
The car accident case had taken a twist, with her car driver lodging a hit-and-run case, later with the Kittur police station. The Minister’s official driver has stated in his complaint that the accident had taken place due to rash and negligent driving by the driver of a canter truck.
Earlier, the family of Minister Hebbalkar stated that the driver of the car lost control while avoiding a dog and hit a tree.
In the complaint, the official driver stated that while driving on National Highway 48 near Ambadagatti Cross near Belagavi, a canter truck ahead on lane one came to the left without giving a signal.
The driver further stated that in spite of taking evasive action to avoid a collision, the truck clipped the car.
The driver claimed that following this, he lost control over the vehicle which jumped to the service road and later collided with a tree.
He said the canter truck driver did not stop the vehicle and escaped from the spot.
The incident has raised concerns in the state political corridors in the backdrop of intense political rivalry between Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar's family and former Minister and prominent BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi's family in the region. Minister for PWD Satish Jarkiholi, a close associate of CM Siddaramaiah is the younger brother of Ramesh Jarkiholi.
Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, hailing from a humble background, has challenged the supremacy of the powerful Jarkiholi family. Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar is strongly backed by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
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