One killed, five injured in accident on Delhi-Meerut Expressway

The deceased was a 42-year-old bank manager from Jamalpur in Bihar. His wife, son and two relatives were among those injured.

A 42-year-old bank manager from Jamalpur in Bihar was killed while his wife (a 34-year-old school teacher) their eight-year-old son, two relatives, and the driver of an allegedly speeding taxi they were travelling in were injured when the taxi crashed into a parked goods tempo on Delhi-Meerut Expressway early Sunday, police said.

The Delhi Meerut Expressway. (Sakib Ali/ HT)

According to police, of the four injured family members, the condition of two, including the 67-year-old father of the woman, is serious. All the victims were initially taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hospital from where they were shifted to a private hospital in Patparganj. The driver of the taxi, identified as Manish Kumar Thakur, 32, was arrested and booked for rash driving and causing death by negligence. A case was registered against him at the Pandav Nagar police station.

The family was returning to Karol Bagh in central Delhi from Haridwar, when the mishap took place around 1am near Samaspur bus stop. The injured school teacher, identified by her first name Manisha, in her statement to the police, alleged that the driver of the Swift Dzire taxi was driving rashly. She claimed the driver was short-tempered and despite several requests to drive slowly and carefully, he did not pay them any heed.

“He was in a hurry to reach Delhi. Because of his rash and negligent driving, the cab crashed into a parked tempo. All of us were injured and taken to LBS Hospital in an ambulance. My husband succumbed to his injuries in the hospital,” Manisha said.

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Priyanka Kashyap said that the family had come to Delhi for medical treatment of Manisha’s 67-year-old father, Upendra Prasad Gupta. Manisha’s sister Richa, 32, was accompanying them. The family was staying in Karol Bagh.

“On Saturday, the family booked a cab from Karol Bagh for a trip to Haridwar. They were returning from Haridwar, when the mishap took place. We have arrested the driver,” said DCP Kashyap.