E-Paper
22-year-old thrown out of car after it hits barrier on Signature Bridge, dies
The student, identified as Ashish Kumar alias Monti, fell almost 40 feet down from the bridge. His head hit a concrete road and he died on the spot, the police said.
A 22-year-old B.Com final-year student was killed and his friend critically injured after their car hit a concrete roadside barrier on the Signature Bridge, causing him to come flying out through the vehicle’s window and fall off the bridge early Thursday, police said.
The student, identified as Ashish Kumar alias Monti, fell almost 40 feet down from the bridge. His head hit a concrete road and he died on the spot, the police said.
According to the police, Ashish was driving a white Mahindra XUV-500, which belongs to the father of his 17-year-old friend Vishal Yadav, at over 100kmph when the accident took place around 4am.
Yadav was in the front passenger seat and their other friends—Rishabh, 20, and Yash, 17—were in the rear passenger seats.
Neither Ashish nor Vishal were wearing seat belts.
The spot on the bridge where the accident took place is the same place where two friends—a junior doctor and a medical student—were killed when they fell off the bridge over the Yamuna after their KTM Duke bike hit the barrier on November 23 last year, the police said. Another biker was killed on the bridge a day later. The police said that at in least two of these cases, deaths were a result of speeding.
Deputy commissioner of police (north) Nupur Prasad said the four friends had left their homes in east Delhi’s Shahdara at around 4am to eat parathas at a nearby eatery. As the eatery was crowded, they ordered the food and left to drive on the Signature Bridge.
“The speeding SUV crossed the Signature Bridge and was taking a left turn on the loop road towards Majnu ka Tilla. In a bid to overtake another car, Ashish took a sharp right turn but lost control over the vehicle,” said a police officer associated with the accident case.
The front right tyre of the SUV climbed onto the concrete barrier of the bridge, the officer said, adding that Ashish immediately swerved the vehicle left to keep it from falling off the bridge. While the SUV did come back on the road, he could not control the vehicle. “As a result, the SUV’s right tyre climbed onto the barrier three-four times because of which it burst and the axle broke,” the police officer said.
“The sudden jerk, caused when the tyre burst and axle broke, threw Ashish out of the car’s window and down the bridge,” the officer added.
As Ashish was flung out of the vehicle, Yadav jumped onto the driver’s seat and applied brakes to stop the SUV, which by then had moved another 20 metres down the road. Yadav also suffered injuries in the accident, while the other two occupants escaped unhurt.
The police said a passerby called the police control room and informed about the accident. By the time the police reached, Yadav had already been rushed to a private hospital in Kaushambi by his friends.
“A case of rash driving, causing death by negligence was registered at the Timarpur police station,” DCP Prasad said.
The police have recorded the statement of the three survivors, who narrated the sequence of events leading to the accident and Ashish’s death.
Yadav told the police that he was awake when Ashish sent him a WhatsApp message, asking him if he was interested in going out to eat parathas. Yadav took his father’s SUV and the four friends left for the eatery.
Yadav and Yash are Class 10 and 11 students, while Rishabh is pursuing his BCA through correspondence. Ashish was also a correspondence student.
On April 17, a biker was killed on the bridge while returning home in east Delhi’s Sonia Vihar. His family alleged that a metal wire, attached to a winch on the bridge, had snapped because of dust storms. The wire had allegedly pierced the man’s chest after hitting his head and face.