Punjab Congress leader Khushbaz Singh Jattana (47) and his driver Parminder were killed on Thursday evening after a speeding truck rammed into their stationary SUV on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway near the Jakholi toll plaza in Haryana’s Sonipat district. Jattana’s gunman, Head Constable Karandeep Singh, was critically injured and admitted to a private hospital in Sonipat. The truck driver fled the spot, and a manhunt was launched to nab him.

According to the police, the incident took place around 6.15 pm when Jattana, his driver, gunman and a mechanic had stopped to change a flat tyre. Jattana and the gunman had stepped out of the vehicle while the driver and mechanic were working on it. An incoming truck hit the group and the SUV. Jattana and Parminder died on the spot.

The bodies have been shifted to the mortuary of a government hospital in Sonipat.

Jattana, a native of Muktsar district, had been active in Punjab politics for over two decades. He began his political career in student politics at Panjab University, where he served as president of the Students Organisation of Panjab University from 2002 to 2004 while studying law.

He later joined the Congress and went on to serve as vice-president of the Punjab Youth Congress and district (rural) president in Bathinda. He contested the Assembly elections from Talwandi Sabo in 2017 and 2022 but lost both times.

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said the party had lost a dynamic and promising leader. Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa termed the incident heartbreaking and said a young life had been cut short abruptly.