Two men were killed and five others injured when the SUV they were travelling in first hit a vegetable cart and then a divider before toppling. The accident was reported from Najafgarh-Bahadurgarh road in southwest Delhi on Saturday night. All men were reportedly in their early thirties.
The men from Jind in Haryana, were reportedly on their way to Gurgaon in a Nissan Terrano, to attend a wedding when the accident occurred.
According to the police, the driver, Ajay, was speeding as they were getting late for the wedding. When they reached an empty stretch near the Essar petrol pump, he reportedly tried to speed up and almost hit a cart. In order avoid an accident, he took a sharp turn but lost control over the vehicle and rammed a divider. The car skid for over 100 metres before hitting a tree. It then toppled and skid for another 50 metres before coming to a halt, police said.
“The driver and the car owner, Shiv Raj, sitting on the front seat were killed on the spot. Since the front portion of the car hit a tree, that part was completely damaged. Ajay and Raj were completely crushed. Luckily, when the car hit the tree, the rear seat of the vehicle came off and the door opened. The men fell outside the car and sustained injuries on their hands and legs. Those injuries however were not fatal,” a senior police officer said. “Shiv Raj and Ajay on the other hand suffered severe head injuries which led to their instant death,” he said.
A passerby, who was on his way to office, saw the accident and informed police. “The car was in a very bad shape and we had to rope in the fire department to help us pull out the occupants. The car was cut open with gas cutters to remove the two men in the front. They were rushed to the hospital and declared dead on arrival,” a police officer said.
Three of the other five men were admitted to Rao Tula Ram hospital and are recuperating. Their families have been informed.
Police also said that the vegetable vendor whose cart was hit too had a narrow escape. “He too was admitted to a hospital with injuries but was discharged after treatment,” a police officer said.
A case in the matter has been registered. A few bottles of country-made liquor have also been recovered from the car, however, it is not clear if the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol. “We have recovered some bottles but we are not sure if the driver had consumed liquor. It will be clear in the postmortem report,” a police officer said.
Raj, police said was the sarpanch of Julana village in Jind.
