7 Dera Sacha Sauda followers killed in road mishap

Seven Dera Sacha Sauda followers were killed and over 35 were injured when the mini-truck carrying them collided head on with a tractor trolley laden with Cotton near the village Chormar about 35 kms from here last night, police said today.

The ill fated mini-truck was on it way back to Muktsar in Punjab after the followers attended some religious congregation at the Sirsa dera.

All the injured had been hospitalised at Sirsa General hospital.

Police said the deceased were identified as Baldev, Jarnail Singh, Tarsem, Amarjit Kaur, Palwinder Kaur, and teen-agers Harminder Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur.

Police have registered a case against the tractor driver who fled from the site after the accident.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their kin after an autopsy in the Dabwali civil Hospital.