The man whose body was found floating on the heavily waterlogged underpass at Minto Road Bridge on Sunday morning was last seen perched on top of his submerged min-truck and desperately waiting for help, his relative said.
Kundan Kumar, 56, came to Delhi before the nationwide lockdown was imposed and had planned to return home in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand for his elder daughter's marriage but his family had asked him to wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to stabilize.
The sole bread earner in the family, which included his elderly parents, wife and two daughters, aged 22 years and 12 years, he used to earn Rs 15,000-20,000 per month by ferrying goods across the city and would send the money home to his family.
His cousin Pritam Singh said Kumar lived near a taxi stand in Shankar Market where he parked his vehicle. He used to leave for work around 5am and return by 7pm.
Singh, who owns the vehicle Kumar drove, said his cousin was last seen by a boy who knew him. The boy told him around 8:30 am that Kumar was sitting on the roof of his submerged Tata Ace stuck under the railway bridge at Minto Road.
"When he returned with help my brother was not there. May be he got scared and could not escape or may be he slipped. Later, his body was retrieved from the water," Singh said.
Delhi police said the pick-up truck driver was trying to manoeuvre his vehicle through the waterlogged underpass but he got stuck and possibly drowned as no external injury mark was found on his body.
Waterlogging at the underpass during the rainy season is a recurring problem and incidents of vehicles getting stuck and people being rescued have often been reported.
"I last talked to him Saturday evening. Around 8.30am today, I got a call after that I sent some men to Minto Bridge where they found Kumar's body was fished out of the water," Singh said.
"He (Kumar) wanted to go back home as his elder daughter's marriage was fixed in November but was advised by his family to wait till the situation gets normal," he said.
He used to work in Delhi for 3-4 months at a stretch and then go back home for a few months. He was doing this for many years, he added.
The body has been shifted to a mortuary at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and it will be handed over to police after post-mortem.
Following a heavy downpour this morning, some other vehicles were also stuck at Minto Bridge. Delhi Fire Service Personnel rescued the driver and the conductor of a DTC bus and an auto driver from the waterlogged underpass.
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