Three killed as car rams bus in outer Delhi

Three members of a family were killed and two, including a one-year-old boy, critically injured when the car they were travelling in rammed a bus in outer north Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area on Monday morning

Three members of a family were killed and two, including a one-year-old boy, critically injured when the car they were travelling in rammed a bus in outer north Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area on Monday morning. Police have registered a case in connection with the incident.

Police said that passersby managed to pull the victims out of the car and a CATS ambulance rushed them to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Brijendra Kumar Yadav identified the deceased persons as Jyoti Sharma, 27, her mother Jamna, 62, and Jyoti’s cousin Nisha, 32. The injured include Sunil (34), Jyoti and Nisha’s cousin who was driving the car, and Nisha’s one-year-old son.

Police said the Swaroop Nagar police station received a control room call at 7.04am regarding an accident on GT Road near Nangli Poona. “When police reached the spot, they found an i20 car had rammed a Delhi Transportation Corporation bus, which had halted at a bus stand to pick up passengers,” the DCP said.

Raju, 37, a resident of Holambi Kalan who drives a cab to ferry school children, said he called the police when he saw the car ram the bus. “I was crossing the bus stand near Nangli Poona when I saw the accident--the car rammed the stationary bus. I immediately stopped my cab and saw that the car was completely damaged in the front. The driver was struggling to come out. I couldn’t see who was still inside. Meanwhile, a lot of motorcycles and cars stopped to help,” Raju said.

The cab driver made the calls to police and ambulance and left for work, he said.

Police said that passersby managed to pull the victims out of the car and a CATS ambulance rushed them to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital.

At the hospital, police were informed that the three women were declared dead on arrival and the two injured were shifted to a private hospital. The hospital said that Sunil had sustained a head injury and the child was also severely injured, the condition of both remains critical. “The team was informed that the passengers were driving to Delhi from Himachal Pradesh and the DTC bus was on route from Mukhmelpur to Azadpur,” Yadav said, adding that there were no skid marks on the road.

Relatives of the victims who live in Delhi reached the hospital Monday morning, including Nisha’s husband Vijay (age unknown), a resident of Ghaziabad.

Vijay said that Nisha’s family resides in Himachal Pradesh, and that they were coming to Delhi as Jamna and Jyoti were to leave for Hong Kong to restart their restaurant--which had shut down during the pandemic--on August 1. “Nisha had gone to Hamirpur to spend a few days with her family and was returning with them. Nisha was to come to Ghaziabad and Jamna, Jyoti and Sunil were to stay at a relative’s house in Uttam Nagar,” he said.

Police said they suspect that Sunil may have dozed off at the wheel as he had been driving since 9pm on Sunday. Police have registered a case under relevant sections.