Reporter’s Diary: FIFA finale and a tragedy that two families will bear

Dipank Malik, 20, and Saksham Sachdeva, 22, died after their car hit a truck on the Dwarka Expressway while returning from a World Cup screening.

Sometimes, fate unfolds with a cruelty that is difficult to comprehend. For two childhood friends, Dipank Malik, 20, and Saksham Sachdeva, 22, a night spent watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup finale together on a giant screen on Sohna Road ended with both losing their lives on the Dwarka Expressway in the early hours of July 20.

A truck allegedly changed lanes and braked suddenly on Dwarka Expressway, causing the car carrying three friends to crash and killing two. (HT)

Malik, a resident of Vani Vihar, and Sachdeva, who lived in Vijay Vihar, both adjacent localities in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, had grown up together. Malik was a third-year engineering student, while Sachdeva was into the event management business. Their families had watched them grow up, and, once they were given the freedom to venture out on their own, the two rarely made plans without each other.

On July 19, they learnt about a place on Sohna Road that would screen the FIFA final on a giant screen. They decided almost immediately that it was where they wanted to be. Sachdeva also brought along his friend Pragati Vashishth, 20, in his car.

For two to two-and-a-half hours, the friends enjoyed the match to their core before leaving for home. That journey, however, abruptly ended much before destination. A truck driver allegedly changed lanes and suddenly braked on the Dwarka Expressway, triggering a crash when the trio’s car rear ended it. Malik and Sachdeva died, while Vashishth survived with critical injuries.

As I followed the aftermath of the crash, what stayed with me was the stark contrast between the evening the families had seen their children leave home smiling and cheering and the scene they faced hours later in a Gurugram mortuary.

The mangled remain of the car on Dwarka Expressway on July 20; (top inset) Dipank Malik; (bottom inset) Saksham Sachdeva. (HT Photo)

Malik’s cousin, who was shattered by the deaths, could only ask: “How fate could be so cruel?” He showed me a photograph of the two friends sitting together at a restaurant, smiling, with their hands on each other’s shoulders.

The truck driver who allegedly changed lanes and braked recklessly was nowhere to be traced.

What makes these deaths harder for families to come to terms with is the legal aftermath. Section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, applied in this case, makes causing death by negligence a bailable offence, punishable with up to five years in prison, meaning bail can ordinarily be granted at the police-station level. Section 106(2), which prescribes up to 10 years for a driver involved in hit and run case, is non-bailable. For families, the distinction can be difficult to reconcile: a life is lost, yet the law may allow the accused in a negligence case to walk out on bail even as they begin the long wait for accountability.

Every day, young lives like those of Malik and Sachdeva are lost on India’s roads because of reckless driving. Tribunals may award monetary compensation when claimed, but there is no compensation that can restore a child to a family or erase the pain that remains long after the headlines disappear.

Debashish is a principal correspondent who covers crime, traffic, transport and DHBVN.