Engineer killed in hit and run

A 47-year-old merchant navy chief engineer was killed and his wife critically injured when a speeding Audi A6 car rammed their Hyundai i10 car at Golf Course Extension Road in Gurgaon on Friday afternoon, said police.

A 47-year-old merchant navy chief engineer was killed and his wife critically injured when a speeding Audi A6 car rammed their Hyundai i10 car at Golf Course Extension Road in Gurgaon on Friday afternoon, said police.

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The couple's 14 year-old daughter, also in the car, was injured but later released from hospital.

Sanjiv Mittal, the 48-year-old IT-firm owner and IIT graduate, who was driving the Audi car, fled from the spot after the incident.

Mittal was arrested by police on Saturday afternoon, a full 24 hours later. Police say he was taking the car on a test drive.

Eyewitnesses said the Audi smashed the i10 with such force that the smaller car toppled over thrice before stopping at a distance of 36 yards from the site of the collision. The Audi hit the i10 from the right, ramming diagonally into the driver's side.

Avinash Chandra Shah, who was driving the i10, died on the spot. His body could be retrieved from his mangled car after a two-hour exercise of cutting the wreckage with iron cutters. Kamal Shah (44), his wife, who is a teacher trainer at a private school, suffered multiple injuries and is in a critical state, doctors at Artemis Hospital in Gurgaon said.

The family live in Regency Park II in DLF City and were on their way to a Christmas lunch on Friday afternoon.

Shah who worked with a Hong-Kong-based company, Wahllem Ship Management, had come home on a vacation on November 1 to celebrate his birthday on December 24.

“Our family has been shattered because of the irresponsible act of a fool. My daughter is critical. All seems to be gone now,” said V.K. Agarwal, the father-in-law of Shah.

Mittal was booked for rash driving, causing grievous injury and causing death by negligence and freed on bail within hours of his arrest.

Mittal was reportedly in the car with his two daughters and a son; the family escaped unhurt as the air bags in front of their seats inflated when their car hit the i10 car.

There were contradictory versions of how Mittal came to be in possession of the Audi car.

Police said Mittal had taken the Audi on a test drive from a Gurgaon showroom. SHO Rajeev Kumar said that Sandip Dalal, an associate with the showroom was sitting in the car with Mittal.

Showroom employees washed their hands off the incident.

“We have nothing to do with the accident. Mital, who is a friend of one of the directors of Zenica Cars India that owns the Gurgaon Audi Showroom, had borrowed the car just for a day on Friday only. We did not have our employee sitting in the car,” said Kunal Behrani, Assistant General Manager (sales) at the Gurgaon Audi Showroom.

Relatives of the Shah family said police were protecting the accused, as they took an entire day to arrest him after the accident, even though the showroom had given them all the details of the person who was driving the car.

Shah was on his way to a lunch with his wife Kamal (Shabnam) Shah and daughter Riya.

The family did not take their son Anchal (16) along, as he was busy preparing for his XII Board exams.

Dr. Kushagra Kataria, the CEO of Artemis Hospital said that Komal Shah was critical and not out of danger.

“She suffered multiple injuries at the chest, heart, pelvis and shoulder.”