New Delhi, Sep 15: A senior official of the Union Ministry of Finance died, and his wife was left seriously injured after their motorcycle was hit by a BMW car near the Delhi Cantt metro station, police said, adding that a case has been registered under the relevant sections.
The victim, Navjot Singh, who was serving as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance, was returning home from Bangla Sahib Gurudwara on his bike when the accident occurred on Sunday evening.
His wife, Sandeep Kaur, who was riding with him, sustained critical injuries.
Gaganpreet Kaur, wife of Parikshit Makkar, a resident of Gurugram, who allegedly drove the BMW car involved in the crash that killed a senior Finance Ministry official and left his wife injured in southwest Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan was arrested on culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges on Monday after being discharged from a hospital, police said.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against her under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The sections invoked include 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 125B (acts endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender).
The accused woman took the victims, Navjot Singh and his wife Sandeep Kaur, to Nulife Hospital, which is owned by one of her relatives, in north Delhi’s GTB Nagar, more than 19 kilometres away from the accident site. Navjot’s family alleged that the small hospital, where Singh was declared “brought dead”, was linked to the accused.
“If he had been taken to AIIMS, Ram Manohar Lohia or the Army Hospital, maybe his life could have been saved,” Bitti, the victim’s sister-in-law, said.
When questioned why she did not take them to a nearby hospital, accused Gaganpreet Kaur claimed that she panicked and only knew about that hospital because her children had been treated there during the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior police official said.
Police sources said that there is a possibility of tampering with the medical reports of the accused woman who underwent treatment at the hospital and the matter is under investigation.
In her statement to police, Sandeep Kaur said she had repeatedly pleaded with Kaur and her spouse to take them to the nearest hospital as her husband was unconscious and needed immediate treatment. “Instead, the lady took us to a small hospital in GTB Nagar, more than 19 km away. She told me her name was Gaganpreet Kaur,” she said.
Navjot Singh was scheduled to get promoted in six months. Chaotic visuals from the site went viral on social media, showing the BMW turned turtle in the middle of the road, windshield shattered and doors flung open. A woman, believed to be accused Gaganpreet, was seen pulling passengers from the mangled car as passersby surrounded the scene.
Nearby, Navjot Singh lay motionless in a pool of blood, while his wife was seen injured at a distance. (PTI)
