BMW crash: Why did Gaganpreet drive victim 20 km away, ignoring wife's pleas?

The accused had said that she took the victims to Nulife hospital because she “trusted" it as "they had saved her children during the pandemic”.

Gaganpreet Makkad, the woman who was behind the wheel of the BMW that mowed down a senior finance ministry official in New Delhi's Dhaula Kuan on Sunday, took him and his wife to a hospital some 20 km away from where the accident had happened.

Navjot Singh, with his wife Sandeep Kaur, who also sustained severe injuries in the accident. (HT)

She also did not inform the police while taking Navjot Singh, 52, and his wife, Sandeep Kaur, to a hospital far away, following which she faces charges of culpable homicide and evidence tampering, according to police.

Makkad allegedly took Navjot Singh, 52, who suffered fatal injuries during the accident, and Sandeep Kaur, who was also injured, to the hospital despite Kaur repeatedly requesting to take them to a hospital nearby so that her husband could get immediate medical attention.

The accident happened in Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan. According to investigators, there were several hospitals nearby where Makkad could have taken them, including Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, which is 7.8km away, and AIIMS, which is 12 km away. However, she took them to Nulife Hospital, some 20 km away from the spot. Makkad told investigators that she did so because she “trusted the hospital as they had saved her children when they were infected during the pandemic”. She also claimed that she had “no links” to the hospital.

Why were BMW victims taken to Nulife hospital?

Even though Makkad denied having any links with the hospital, according to some investigators and a database maintained by the Union ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Makkad’s father Javinder Singh is listed as a director on two companies registered at the same address as the hospital, Hindustan Times had reported earlier.

Javinder Singh is listed as a director and promoter of Nulife Advanced Diagnostics Private Limited and Nulife Luxury Realtors Private Limited and both the companies had the same address as the one that owns the hospital. The registered address is - House No. 1616, First Floor, Outram Line, GTB Nagar.

Also, in another major link between the hospital and the accused, one of the directors of Nulife Hospital is also a director at the two companies where Makkad’s father is a board member.

“Javinder Singh is the maternal uncle of Dr Harish Kumar (the founder of Nulife Hospital),” a senior police official said. However, Dr Kumar passed away during Covid pandemic and the hospital, founded in 1992, is now run by his children.

Makkad was with her husband and two children at the time of the crash. She was arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, obstruction of evidence, rash driving, and endangering lives.

Makkad's husband, Parikshit, later informed police that after she left for the hospital, he called his father-in-law to inform him that she was on her way with the two victims. However, he claimed that he did not know his wife chose to go to the hospital in GTB Nagar, according to the officer cited above.

(With inputs from Hemani Bhandari)