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Delhi BMW crash case: Accused's blood test negative for alcohol
Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, was arrested on Monday after being discharged from the hospital and was remanded to two days’ judicial custody.
Delhi Police on Tuesday confirmed that the blood sample of Gaganpreet Kaur, accused in the Dhaula Kuan BMW crash that killed a senior finance ministry official, tested negative for alcohol consumption.
Kaur, 38, was arrested on Monday after being discharged from the hospital and was remanded to two days’ judicial custody.
Police said Kaur’s BMW rammed into the motorcycle of Navjot Singh, 52, deputy secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, who was returning home from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara with his wife Sandeep Kaur, on Sunday afternoon.
Navjot died in the crash, while Sandeep Kaur sustained serious injuries, including fractures, and remains under treatment.
Duty Magistrate Akanksha Singh sent Kaur to judicial custody after ruling that custodial interrogation was unnecessary. The court also issued notices to Delhi Police and the victim’s family on Kaur’s bail application, seeking responses by September 17.
According to the FIR, the crash occurred around 1.30 pm on Ring Road near Dhaula Kuan when the BMW first struck a divider before hitting the motorcycle.
The impact caused the two-wheeler to collide with a DTC bus. Police booked Kaur on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash driving, endangering life, and causing disappearance of evidence under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The case has sparked controversy after it emerged that instead of rushing the injured couple to a nearby hospital, Kaur drove them 22 kilometres to Nulife Hospital in GTB Nagar, which is reportedly linked to her relatives.
Singh was declared “brought dead” there. His wife alleged that despite repeated pleas, Kaur and her husband ignored requests to take them to the nearest facility. The family further claimed that the accused couple received medical attention before the crash victims.
Defence counsel Vikas Pahwa opposed the arrest, questioning the police’s handling of the case. He pointed to a 10-hour delay in registering the FIR and said the allegations contradicted CCTV footage and the DCP’s press briefing.
According to Pahwa, the CCTV showed the BMW hitting a divider first, which then led to the fatal sequence. He argued that Kaur, herself injured and traumatised, acted in panic and believed she was taking the victims to the hospital she trusted most, since her children had been treated there during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There was no intent to cause death. She tried her best to arrange medical help. The suggestion that she deliberately chose a distant hospital for ulterior motives is baseless,” Pahwa told the court.
With PTI inputs
