Delhi man dies after car falls off incomplete Barapullah flyover

Police said the Barapullah extension flyover is at least a year from completion, and the stretch is unmotorable.

A 42-year-old man died after driving off the edge of an incomplete section of the Barapullah extension flyover near east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, police officers aware of the case said on Monday, adding that the victim’s car was completely crushed after it dropped around 30 feet into the Yamuna floodplains.

The underconstruction Barapullah flyover near Mayur Vihar Phase. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The incident occurred on Friday evening, police said, when Jagndeep (single name) was driving his Maruti Suzuki Wagon R after finishing work at his office in Noida’s Sector 26. He lived in Krishna Nagar, and according to officers, his family told police that he was en route to his home. Deputy commissioner of police (east) Amrutha Gugulot said investigators are yet to determine what he was doing on the incomplete flyover.

Police said the Barapullah extension flyover is at least a year from completion, and the stretch is unmotorable, adding that the man drove over at least three patches of exposed rebar spans (used for the setting of concrete for the extension flyover) before driving off the edge.

“Prima facie, it appears that the victim had consumed alcohol, though we are waiting for the post mortem reports to confirm this. We do not know how the vehicle reached so far despite the problematic access to this stretch,” said Amrutha Gugulot, deputy commissioner of police (east).

Read: Barapullah corridor struggles to cope as traffic load expands

The victim’s family could not be contacted despite multiple attempts.

Local residents said the accident was a tragedy waiting to happen, as the entrance to the stretch is only partially barricaded. “There are heavy jersey barriers near the entrance to the stretch, but it is not fully blocked, leaving space for some vehicles to enter,” said Furqan, who alerted the police about the accident involving Jagndeep.

However, Public Works Department (PWD) officials disputed this. “The heavy jersey barriers clearly indicate that this stretch should not be used. However, we need to make space to give access to machinery and trucks that are involved in construction work. Even if one enters the stretch by mistake, it has no lights or traffic and has exposed rebar spans after every 40 metres, making it unmotorable,” said a senior PWD official, declining to be named.

Read: Ashram flyover extension opens for heavy vehicles

After Friday’s accident, the PWD has placed two parallel rows of concrete jersey barriers at the entrance of the flyover, and officials on the ground have been informed by seniors to remove them using cranes only when designated vehicles need to enter.

Giving details of the accident, police officers said that a passerby informed them about the accident at around 8.20pm on Friday. A police team then reached the spot and tried to extricate Jagndeep from the mangled remains of the car, but were unable to.

“We then informed the fire services as well as our forensics team, who reached the spot and helped retrieve him from the shattered body of the car after nearly two hours of effort. He was taken to the nearest hospital, where he was declared dead. The post-mortem has been done and the body has been handed over to the family,” said the investigating officer (IO), assistant sub-inspector Yogender.