Guwahati: The driver of a 108 emergency service ambulance involved in a fatal hit-and-run in Guwahati’s Kahilipara area on Friday night during Saraswati Puja surrendered before police on Saturday.Dispur Police Station traffic branch officers identified the driver as Rekibuddin Ahmed. Police said the ambulance was travelling from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) via Rajiv Nagar Road, which merges with Kahilipara Road, when it struck Luna Bharadwaj, who was riding a two-wheeler near the office of the Assam Sarva Siksha Abhijan Mission. “Following the incident, the driver had fled away leaving the vehicle behind,” said Bashab Thakuria, Dispur PS traffic IC.DCP traffic Jayanta Sarathi Borah said Ahmed surrendered at Rangia Police Station. “The accused driver has already surrendered, and our teams have been dispatched to Rangia to bring him back. He will then be interrogated to confirm whether he possessed the necessary documents authorising him to drive. Meanwhile, the vehicle has been seized by the Dispur Police Station,” he said.A 108 emergency services official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ahmed, from Assam’s Kamrup district, was recruited about one-and-a-half months ago during a period when 108 ambulance drivers were on strike, and was appointed on a contractual basis.“We suspect that the incident might have happened, due to the vehicle’s brake failure, but we cannot say anything till the motor vehicle reports come out,” the official said.Bharadwaj, from Assam’s Bongaigaon district, was a former student of JB Law College and was set to join a private bank in the coming days, her family said.The crash also left Achyut Baruah of Assam’s Golaghat district critically injured. GMCH medical superintendent Devajit Choudhury said Baruah remains in the ICU. “His condition was initially unstable, and even now he remains critical and is not out of danger,” he said.
