Hit on Noida expressway, left unattended, Delhi engineer dies in crash

The impact was so severe that the CNG tank was flung out of the car and the rear seat pushed forward, crushing the front cabin

A 31-year-old IT engineer working in Tunisia, who was in Delhi to meet his family, died after a speeding SUV rammed his car from behind near Sector 145 metro station on the Noida–Greater Noida Expressway early Sunday, police said.

The victim’s family, after nearly an hour of searching, found him unconscious in his car and took him to a nearby private hospital, where he was declared brought dead. (HT Photos)

The accused driver has been arrested and produced in court, they added. “We have arrested the SUV driver, Yashshvi Gupta, 25, a resident of Bhajanpura in Delhi, under Sections 281 (rash driving), 125(b) (act endangering life) and 106 (abetment to suicide) of the BNS. Further investigation is underway,” said Santosh Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida.

Police said the victim, Vikrant Sirohi, also missed the “golden hour” as no one took him to a hospital immediately after the crash. His family, after nearly an hour of searching, found him unconscious in his car and took him to a nearby private hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Under the Good Samaritan scheme, the “golden hour” — the first hour after an accident — is crucial, and anyone who rushes an injured person to hospital is entitled to a Raah-Veer certificate and a ₹25,000 incentive. Police personnel are also mandated to ensure immediate medical assistance.

Sirohi, a resident of Yamuna Vihar in Delhi, was employed as an IT engineer with an MNC in Tunisia.

“Around 3.30am on Sunday, my brother-in-law was returning from a friend’s home in Greater Noida. He was driving his Tata Bolt on the Noida–Greater Noida Expressway when a speeding Toyota Innova hit him from behind near the Sector 145 metro station,” Sirohi’s brother-in-law, Kapil Tevatiya, told HT.

“After an hour, when we (his friends) couldn’t reach him despite repeated calls, we left home to look for him. We saw a group of people gathered along the expressway near the same metro station. When we went to check, we found Sirohi lying unconscious in the driver’s seat of his damaged car,” he added.

The impact was so severe that the CNG tank was flung out of the car and the rear seat pushed forward, crushing the front cabin. Sirohi was wearing a seat belt, but the airbag failed to deploy, causing injuries to his face and other parts of the body.

Tevatiya and Sirohi’s friends took him to a nearby private hospital around 5am, where doctors declared him dead. He was scheduled to return to Tunisia on Sunday night.

“He had come to visit his family five days ago after completing a work trip to Vietnam,” Tevatiya said. “If he had been taken to a hospital in time, he might have survived. Police officers and locals were already gathered around his car when we reached.”

Sirohi is survived by his parents and two sisters.