Two men were killed and a third critically injured when a stone-laden dumper truck ran over them near a village on the Jaipur-Delhi highway Thursday evening, prompting furious residents to block the road in protest, authorities said. The incident, which unfolded around 8 p.m. in Natata village near Kunda, has highlighted longstanding safety concerns over heavy vehicles traversing residential areas.

Police reported that the truck driver lost control of the vehicle, striking the victims who were seated and conversing near a roadside transformer. The impact dragged the men into the transformer, sparking a fire that charred one of the deceased. The driver fled the scene, and a special team has been formed to apprehend him. Eyewitnesses described the chaos, with flames erupting from the transformer and engulfing part of the truck.

The victims were identified as Shankar Saini and Om Prakash Saini, both killed instantly, while Sohan Saini was rescued by locals and rushed to a hospital in critical condition. All three hailed from the local community. According to witness Amar Saini, the group had been chatting innocently when the tragedy struck. Another resident, Rahul, recounted how Shankar became trapped under the wheels and perished in the ensuing blaze.

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In the aftermath, enraged villagers placed the bodies on the highway, halting traffic and demanding compensation for the families, a contractual government job for a next of kin, and stricter regulations on dumper trucks in populated zones. Protester Jaipal Kumar alleged that repeated complaints to authorities about the dangers of such vehicles and the unsecured transformer—despite pleas to disconnect its power supply—had been ignored.

As negotiations stretched into the night, a heavy police presence diverted traffic amid growing vehicle backups, underscoring the tensions between rural safety and industrial transport needs in Rajasthan.

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