GURUGRAM: The vicious cocktail of entitlement, rash behaviour and disregard for laws that the NCR region is infamous for, claimed two lives in an
accident on Gurugram roads on Sunday morning, leaving a third, a young woman pilot of a private airline, critically injured.
Suvarna Sripalli Gayatri, a pilot with IndiGo airline, was on her way from her home on Golf Course Road (extension) in Sector 61 to IGI Airport in Delhi in an office cab, a white Swift Dzire. She was seated in the rear with the driver and security guard who had picked her up in front. They reached Golf Course Road through Rajesh Pilot Marg, and proceeded to enter
Sikanderpur underpass on Golf Course Road near Bristol Chowk, on their way to Shankar Chowk, from where the cab was supposed to move on to NH-8 towards Delhi.
The cab has travelled just around 500m inside the 1.2km-long underpass, when a speeding grey Scorpio with VIP number, driven down the wrong direction, hit the cab head-on at around 5.30am.
Police said the collision was so strong that it opened air bags of both vehicles. Despite this, the driver and guard sitting in front of the IndiGo cab, died on the spot, while Gayatri on the back seat sustained serious injuries and is under treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Medanta Hospital, where her condition is believed to be critical. The Scorpio driver fled the spot and is absconding.
The cab driver who died has been identified as Vinod Yadav, resident of Bijnor in UP. The guard travelling with the pilot was identified as Kishore Yadav, resident of the Bareilly in UP. Police said the Scorpio has a Delhi registration number under the name of a Pradeep Kumar, and that the sticker of a Lok Sabha MP on it was fake. “The Scorpio driver is absconding. We’re trying to nab him,” said DLF 1 SHO Kailash Bedi, adding that while the injured pilot was taken to Medanta, the bodies of the deceased were taken to Civil Hospital.
ACP (traffic) Heera Singh said driving down the wrong side and speeding are serious problems on Gurugram’s streets. “The vehicle was approaching at speed from the wrong side,” said Singh, adding they are going to conduct a traffic rules enforcement drive on Monday on Golf Course Road. He said people often take a wrong turn under the flyover and even in the middle of the road.
“We try our best to enforce traffic rules, but deploying manpower 24x7 is not possible,” said Singh, adding with lesser traffic on weekend, proclivity of commuters to drive down the wrong side at high speed. He said there are proper road markers and signage at the spot, and attributed accidents to rash driving.
In a statement, IndiGo Airline said, “An IndiGo first-officer was travelling by a service provider cab to Delhi airport for her flight duty this morning. The cab met with an accident around 5.30am near DLF 1. Regrettably, the driver and security guard, who were accompanying the staff, died on spot. The IndiGo employee has sustained injuries and is being treated in a nearby hospital. Airline staff are present at the hospital and in contact with the family of the injured staff member. The accident is being investigated by police. The first indications are the accident was caused by reckless driving by the other car.”
Earlier in December 2017, a biker had died on the spot after being hit by a Toyota Corolla coming from wring side in the same Sikanderpur underpass. It was the first fatal accident in the underpass near Cyber City that was inaugurated in March 2017 to reduce traffic congestion on the busy intersection and improve connectivity with the airport.
Illustration for representational purpose.