One dead in accident at Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave

The luxury sedan jumped over the central verge onto the wrong side and rammed the MPV driven by the victim

A 28-year-old man was killed when a multi-purpose vehicle he was driving collided with a luxury sedan coming on the opposite side of the road, after it jumped over the central verge onto the wrong side and rammed into him head-on on the Ring Road at Safdarjung Enclave around 6.30am on Saturday, police said.

The mangled remains of the cars at the accident spot. (ANI)

Police said that a 24-year-old man identified as Paras Pathaniya, a resident of Paschim Vihar, has been arrested in connection with the incident. He was returning home from a club when the accident took place, after which he went to west Delhi, then Noida, before going to Safdarjung Enclave from where he was arrested, police said.

Identifying the victim as Sukhjit Singh, who was from Hisar in Haryana, police said the driver of the sedan fled the spot and left his vehicle behind. Singh worked as a transporter, police said.

“When the staff reached the spot, two vehicles were found in accidental condition—an Audi and an Ertiga. Both had registration numbers from Haryana. The Ertiga was coming from Dhaula Kuan side and going towards Noida side and the Audi was coming from AIIMS side and going towards Moti Bagh,” deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said.

Police said they received information about the accident from a passerby and that the collision took place right opposite the World Trade Centre.

The injured driver was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he was declared dead.

A case on charges of causing death by negligence and rash driving was registered and further probe is underway, police said.

Singh’s brother-in-law Sunil Dhillon, a resident of Gurugram, said Singh had come to their residence to meet his sister and was on his way home when the incident took place. “He had come to meet us on Friday and was going back home on Saturday morning. We had asked him to stay longer but he said he had work,” Dhillon said.

Singh was preparing for competitive exams to secure a government job, they said. “He was keen on getting a government job, be it in a bank or any clerical position,” Dhillon said, adding that his elder brother is a transporter and Singh helped him with the business.

Singh is survived by his father, an elder brother and two sisters.

Pathaniya had gone to Canada for studies and work in 2018 and returned to India in April last year, police said, adding that they are verifying the ownership of the vehicle.