NEW DELHI: It was almost as if the man had dug his own grave. Siyaram Paswan, a resident of Bhati Mines in south Delhi, was at work digging a deep pit in Saket on Wednesday afternoon when an Innova drove into him before crashing into the hole and pinning him to death.
The 40-year-old daily wage labour was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre by the cops, but he had died by the time they reached the hospital. Chander Prakash, who was digging at the site with Paswan, told police that he was standing outside the pit while his friend was digging and relaying the mud from inside to him. Both were hard at their job when a little further away an Innova collided with a Swift. The impact sent the latter hurtling towards the road divider, while the Innova swerved madly and careened in the direction of the two men.
“Before I could react, the car had hit me and I was flung a few metres away. I lost consciousness and regained my sense only on the way to the hospital,” Prakash said. “But my friend was crushed to death by the Innova.”
The incident took place around 3pm on Wednesday and the police control room heard about it when the people who had seen the
accident called in. The callers told police that a woman driver had had a series of collisions and had hit several people. After a police team rushed to the spot, they took the two men to AIIMS.
Police said on Thursday that the woman driver, a resident of Mehrauli, had been nabbed and a case registered at the Saket police station under Sections 279 (rash and negligent driving) and 304 (A) (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. The cops are making further enquiries.
Speaking to TOI, Prakash revealed that he had known Paswan for many years and they both lived in the same locality near Bhati Mines. The two of them had together taken up work at the construction site in Saket and were assigned to dig a pit near a CNG pump there. “Siyaram was a jovial man, who, despite being a poor man himself never fretted about helping his friends with money whenever he could,” grieved Prakash. “This is certainly not the end he deserved.”
Prakash said that he and his friend had left home for work at 8 in the morning and had straightaway begun the digging work when they reached Saket. “Within a few hours, we were almost through with excavating a five-feet-deep pit,” narrated Prakash. “Having finished most of the work, I suggested that we take a lunch break as we had been working at a stretch. But since Siyaram did not want to leave the digging mid-way, he declined to take a breather and said that we should have lunch together once we were done with the work.”
Saying that he had never imagined such an accident would occur, Prakash added, “Both of us could have escaped this accident had we not been at the spot. The sight of the car slamming into my friend will be forever etched in my memory. It will give me nightmares.”
