The morning of 2nd October was the last morning for a group of Indian Air Force officials who decided to go out for a tour around the national capital, unaware of the tragedy which was waiting round the corner. The Maruti Omni van, in which they were travelling, was slammed by a speeding SUV before they could see anything in the capital. The horrific incident took place on Rajpath-Janpath crossing near the National Museum around 9:45 a.m. The person driving the Skoda SUV was a 26 year old male, Nishant Kumar, who has been arrested.
A senior police officer describes the event saying, 'At Rajpath-Janpath crossing the traffic blinkers were on. They (the van driver) slowed down while crossing the signal and also honked. But the speeding Skoda SUV, which was on its way to Safdarjang Enclave from Le Meridien Hotel, rammed the van from the left'.
Eyewitnesses of the event informed and narrated the police, about the incident. They said that early morning, when the traffic lights were on blinker, which means that drivers are supposed to slow down before crossing the signal, the Maruti Omni van was about to cross the signal when suddenly a SUV crashed into it and the van went turtle, causing serious damages. The Skoda SUV belongs to S L Ganapathy, who is an exporter and lives in Kalkaji.
Passengers in the van included a resident of Jodhpur, Corporal Manish Chauhan who died on the spot. Car owner Lakhan Das who was also driving the van, and Warrant officer S.K. Chakraborty succumbed to their injuries later at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. S.K. Chakraborty's wife, Meenakshi and three other IAF men namely S.S. Baishak, Shailender and Ajay Yadav have sustained serious injuries.
While in the hospital, one of the men, Ajay Yadav explained the incident to the police saying that they had just cross the traffic signal at Rajpath, when a high accelerated car jumped the signal and hit their van. Lakhan Das was a class IV employee at IAF and purchased the van on loan two years ago and was fond of sightseeing. His distraught daughter Pooja, a class XI student said, 'We came to know about the accident through television and rushed to the hospital. It was just two days ago that they had plan a visit to the temple. They left around 7 a.m. and were to return by evening'.
Corporal Manish Chauhan’s relatives, who live in Mayapuri, said, 'We got a call from his uncle in Jodhpur around 2 p.m. saying that Manish was injured in an accident. It was on reaching the hospital that we came to know about his death. He was like my own child. He was unmarried'.
Girish Chander Prakash, a friend of the injured passenger S.S. Baishak, also rushed to the hospital and on inquiring he was told that Baishak had lost a lot of blood. Moreover, his blood pressure was very low, and he had also suffered a pelvic injury and had undergone a surgery.
Thus, the dismal incident raises serious questions over the dysfunctional traffic lights, apart from lack of road sense among drivers, which ought to create confusions on the road, resulting in accidents that cost lives.
