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Kuber Group head Vikas Malu in Rolls Royce car crash; SIT formed
Police form SIT to investigate high-speed accident on Delhi-Mumbai expressway involving luxury car and fuel tanker.
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Police in Haryana have formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate a high-speed accident on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway on August 22 after new evidence suggested a luxury car, with a prominent industrialist among its passengers, rear-ended a fuel tanker, killing two people and leaving four others injured.
Police identified the industrialist as Kuber Group director Vikas Malu, who was among three people in a Rolls Royce that was estimated to be travelling at a speed of 200kmph when it crashed into the tanker at a spot on the expressway within Nuh district limits.
“We have registered the case against the driver of the luxury car but yet to confirm who was behind the wheels since all the occupants are undergoing treatment and have been declared unfit to record the statements,” said Narender Bijarniya, superintendent of police, Nuh.
The Kuber Group management did not respond to HT’s queries for a comment.
Eyewitnesses said that following the crash, people from other vehicles that were travelling with Malu caught up and pulled out the occupants of the Rolls Royce, which caught fire within moments. The collision was such that the tanker overturned, although the diesel it was carrying did not ignite.
Previously, the crash was believed to have been caused by the driver of the tanker, who was said to have driven the wrong way but CCTV footage later showed both vehicles were headed in the same direction — away from Gurugram.
The SIT will consist of officials from Nagina police station in Nuh and the crime investigation unit (CIA), said police.
Bijarniya said that the vehicle was suspected to be travelling at a speed of over 200kmph and that the details of the vehicle retrieved from the regional transport authority suggested that the car was recently bought from a Mumbai-based company.
“We have scanned all the CCTV footage and the videos recorded by commuters. The oil tanker was taking a U-turn and was driving at hardly 20kmph when the car rammed into it. The impact was so powerful that it caught fire,” he said.
Police said that according to the CCTV footage of the toll plaza, the last in Gurugram’s jurisdiction, 12km from Alipur, showed that there were four to five vehicles in a convoy of which the Rolls Royce was one. “A Fortuner, Safari, Range Rover and Rolls Royce crossed the toll plaza at around 11.09am and after 13 minutes, the Rolls Royce left the convoy and sped ahead,” said Bijarniya.
Meenal Yadav, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, was behind the oil tanker at a distance and had witnessed the accident. “The oil tanker and my truck both are from the same transport company. I saw how the speeding car rammed into the tanker and it overturned. Even the car was in sparks but within minutes, three people got down from an SUV and took three from the car out and headed towards Delhi. The occupants were fortunate as within minutes, the car caught fire. My both friends Rampreet Kumar and Kuldeep Singh, suffered burn injuries and died on the spot,” he said. A senior official of a private hospital in Gurugram said that Malu was admitted for treatment and was out of danger but not fit to record a statement.
Ashok Kumar, the investigating official of Nagina police station, said they will serve notices to all the three people who were in the luxury car to record their statement and to confirm who was driving. “Before the police team reached the spot, the three injured were taken to the Gurugram hospital by those in the convoy,” he said.
Yadav said that he took the victims to Nalhar medical college in an ambulance where doctors declared them brought dead.
Police said that based on Yadav’s statement, a case was registered against an unnamed Rolls Royce driver under sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of IPC at Nagina police station. “CCTV footage shows the luxury car was speeding at over 200kmph, it lost control and rammed into the oil tanker from behind. A case has been registered against unidentified persons,” SHO Ratan Lal said.
