A Tata Nexon car, driven by a CRPF constable, ran over and killed a 55-year-old man, before ramming a fruit shop and a tree and then colliding with a Maruti Ertiga car in outer Delhi’s Baba Haridas Nagar on Sunday, police said.

The CRPF constable somehow managed to get out of his mangled car and call an ambulance, said Anto Alphonse, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka).

The DCP said that constable Arun Negi,35, who was driving the Nexon car, claimed that he had momentarily dozed off, leading to the fatal mishap. “The incident took place when Negi was driving for his sports practice to Najafgarh. He was not drunk at the time of the mishap,” said the DCP.

Police identified the victim as one Akbar Khan, 55, who hailed from Bareily in Uttar Pradesh and had arrived in Delhi only a week earlier to help his nephew at his fruit shop in Janta Vihar in Baba Haridas Nagar.

“We were cleaning the space outside our shop when a car travelling at a very high speed came and hit him,” said Akbar’s nephew, Umar Khan.

Akbar’s leg was nearly severed in the mishap. He even suffered multiple fractures.

“He was dead within two minutes of the mishap. Apart from the multiple fractures, he had also sustained severe head injuries,” said Umar.

Umar said that after hitting Akbar, the car rammed his shop, hit a tree on the roadside and then collided with an Ertiga, which was moving on the same road.

Bhupender Singh, the man who was driving the Ertiga, told the police that he saw the CRPF constablee losing control of his car, before it rammed a tree. Singh was headed to Vaishno Devi with a relative when the incident took place. The two occupants of the Ertiga car escaped unhurt even as their car was damaged in the mishap.

“While Umar tended to his dying uncle, Negi got off to check on him. He then immediately called an ambulance, but it was too late,” said an investigator.

The police has booked Negi for causing death by negligence and rash driving and arrested him.

Umar said that his uncle has left behind seven children, some of who were solely depended on him. “He had fixed the wedding of one of his daughters for later this year. He came to Delhi to earn some money that would allow him to marry off his daughter,” said Umar.

First Published: Jun 05, 2019 06:16 IST