Woman in cab killed in Delhi’s Civil Lines crash

A 48-year-old woman was killed and four others were injured when a 20-year-old man rammed his car into two cabs outside the Vidhan Sabha Metro station in north Delhi’s Civil Lines Area on Wednesday afternoon, the police said.

The dead woman has been identified as Rajeshwari Yadav, a resident of east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar, said Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west district). She was in one of the cabs, a Honda Amaze, along with her two daughters — Deepti Yadav, 26, and Jyotsna Yadav, 24 — and the driver Ishwar Singh, 55, who sustained injuries, said the DCP.

The officer said that the driver who allegedly caused the crash was identified as Shrey Gupta, son of a scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Gupta was driving a hatchback, a Ford Figo. The Guptas live in the DRDO Complex in north Delhi’s Timarpur.

The DCP said that the accident happened when Gupta took a “sharp turn in a rash and negligent way”, adding that the suspect was not drunk at the time. Gupta, along with his three friends, was heading towards the Indraprastha College for Women in the car when the accident happened at 3.54pm on Wednesday.

“The car was headed from Civil Lines towards IP College when the driver took a sudden turn in a rash and negligent manner. It caused his car to land on the opposite carriageway near the Vidhan Sabha Metro station and hit two app-based cabs – a Honda Amaze and a Swift Dzire,” Bhardwaj added.

An e-rickshaw driver, Abhishek, said that he was waiting for passengers near the metro station when he heard a loud noise. “I looked to find three badly damaged cars. Many people seemed to be injured. We loaded them on our e-rickshaws and rushed them to a hospital,” said Abhishek.

Police said that while the Dzire’s driver escaped unhurt, the Amaze driver was injured. “Its driver Ishwar Singh was left with a fractured leg and the Yadav family was injured,” said the DCP, adding that Rajeshwari Yadav was declared brought dead by doctors at the hospital.

The accused, Gupta, too sustained minor injuries in one of his legs, but he was discharged after being administered first aid, said the officer.The police are yet to question his friends, who are said to be unhurt. The DCP said that a case of causing death by negligence has been registered under sections 304A (causing death due to negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC, adding Gupta would be arrested soon.