Cab on wrong side of road rams bike, 1 killed

Police said the cab driver had entered the wrong carriageway to take a shortcut, which resulted in the accident

A senior legal executive of a private firm in Gurugram has died after a cab speeding in the wrong direction hit his motorcycle on the service lane of the Delhi-Jaipur carriageway near Shankar Chowk, police officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

The cab driver, Mohammad Saddam, 27, was arrested on Saturday. (File)

They said that the deceased was identified as Dharmendra Kumar Ahirwar, 38, a native of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and lived at Dwarka in Delhi. The accident took place when he was returning home from his office in DLF Phase-III around 7 am on Friday, they added.

Inspector Balraj Singh, station house officer of DLF Phase-III police station, said that the cab driver, who was identified Mohammad Saddam, 27, was arrested on Saturday. “He hails from Nuh and had entered the wrong lane to take a shortcut, which resulted in the accident,” he said.

Investigators said the cab suddenly came from the wrong side to head towards Udyog Vihar and hit Ahirwar’s motorcycle. He was flung several feet away due to the impact and his helmet also came off. Meanwhile, the cab driver lost control and rammed the divider before the vehicle came to a halt.

Commuters immediately rushed Ahirwar to a private hospital in DLF Phase-III where he soon died while undergoing treatment. The hospital administration alerted the police about the accident, investigators added.

A senior police officer who did not want to be named said that Vivek Singh, a colleague of Ahirwar, was an eyewitness to the accident as he was travelling just a few metres behind him in his car. “Both had left the office almost at the same time, but Singh’s car was moving slowly due to the traffic,” he said.

Inspector Singh said Saddam’s Swift Dzire and the motorcycle were seized from the spot. “The body was handed over to the family after the autopsy,” he said.

On the colleague’s complaint, an FIR was registered under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at DLF Phase-III police station on Friday.