5 of family dead in collision with truck driven wrong side on Meerut Expressway

Both the families caught in the accident were returning from Haridwar after the Mundan ceremony of Ashish’s toddler son

Two Indirapuram residents were among the five crushed to death when the car in which they were travelling collided head on with a mini-truck that was being driven on the wrong side on the Delhi Meerut Expressway late Monday night, police said. The dead include a one year old toddler and an 11-year old girl. The driver of the mini-truck was arrested and his truck seized soon after the accident.

The impact of the accident was so fierce that the mangled remains of the Maruti Alto car were barely recognisable. (HT Photo/Shakib Ali)

The deceased were identified as Ashish Sinha, 33, his wife Shilpi Sinha, 30, their one-year old son Dev Sinha, Shilpi Sinha’s brother Sonu Kumar, 35, and his daughter, Kavya, 11. Sonu’s wife Nidhi Kumar, 28, and their daughter, Shivi, 4, were admitted to a hospital in Kavi Nagar and are stated to be critical, police said. The impact of the accident was so fierce that the mangled remains of the Maruti Alto car were barely recognisable.

“The families were returning late at night from Haridwar when their car collided head-on with a mini truck driven on the wrong side on the expressway near Masuri. The incident led to the death of five persons while two others were injured,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).

The family of the deceased said that both the families were returning from Haridwar after the Mundan ceremony of Ashish’s toddler son.

“It was the Mundan ceremony of Ashish’s son, Dev, and both families left for Haridwar during early hours on Monday. It was at about 11 pm when the accident took place while they were returning home,” said Pappu Kumar, Sonu’s brother.

Ashish’s family is native of Alam Bagh in Lucknow while Sonu’s family resides in Makanpur (Indirapuram) in Ghaziabad.

Police said the collision took place at an isolated spot on the expressway near the border area of Masuri and Bhojpur police stations in Ghaziabad.

The cops said that the truck driver, identified as Bablu Singh, a native of Amroha, was heading to Rishikesh in Uttarakhand from Ghaziabad.