An inconsolable 19-yeat-old Diksha Dadu regretted her insistence on taking over the wheel from 21-year-old Ritesh Dahiya barely five minutes ago before the Sunday morning accident that left two dead and three injured in G.T.B. Nagar’s Hudson Lane, the police said.
Students Ritesh (21) and Siddhartha Singh (19) were killed, while students of Amity University in Noida Joshita Mohanty (21), Rashi Sharma (20) and Diksha sustained injuries when their speeding car turned turtle after hitting a traffic island in north-west Delhi around 2.30 a.m. on Sunday, the police added.
Diksha, who has suffered minor injuries, claimed the accident happened because of a reckless biker. “We are examining CCTV camera footage from the area to establish the sequence of the events,” said a police officer.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Aslam Khan said Diksha’s medical reports confirmed that she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
However, locals claimed to have seen the car speeding in the area for a few minutes before the incident. They said the driver was applying brakes suddenly and accelerating with a screech moments before the accident.
Local resident Ashok Arora said, “I heard an explosion-like sound and went to the balcony to investigate. I saw a car turn upside down after hitting the central verge. My son and I rushed to help the victims. We managed to rescue the women sitting on the front seats but the persons on the back seat were trapped. They were rescued only after the police arrived.”
He said seatbelts and airbags had probably saved the lives of women on the front seats because the car was flung in the air after hitting the traffic island and the traffic signal before crashing into the central verge.
Siddhartha lived with his family in Pitampura. His father is a senior engineer with a Noida-based TV channel. Ritesh’s family lives in Sonepat in Haryana and his father had bought the car recently. Ritesh was a Delhi University student and lived in a rented accommodation in North Campus. Diksha’s family lives in Prashant Vihar and her father is a businessman. Joshita is from Thane in Maharashtra. Her father is the managing director of an engine oil company. Rashi belongs to Meerut and her father is an astrologer.
Ritesh and Siddhartha were friends with Rashi, who had introduced them to Diksha and Joshita. Ritesh and Siddhartha had picked the others up from Noida on Saturday.
‘Strict hostel rules’
Meanwhile, Amity University administration said it has very strict hostel rules regarding outings and that students are only allowed to go out of if their parents give an undertaking to the warden.
