The Hindu : New Delhi News : Tragic end for two students on weekend outing

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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New Delhi

Tragic end for two students on weekend outing

Staff Reporter

Two friends in hospital; their car rams into a tree near India Gate in the early hours of Sunday

The ‘black’ car: The Skoda car which met with the accident near India Gate on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: A weekend outing ended in tragedy for three young men and their woman friend when their Skoda Laura car careened off the road, rammed into a tree and turned over near India Gate in the early hours of Sunday. Two of the occupants, including the woman, were killed on the spot, while the other two have been admitted to hospitals with serious injuries.

According to the police, the accident took place around 3-45 a.m. when Satyajeet Singh (22) and his friends Anirudh Rawat (21), Gaurav Siddique (25) and Sneha Kapoor (21) were going towards Noida after a get-together at a hotel in Connaught Place. The police suspect that the person in the driving seat lost control of the wheel and the car hit a tree near the National Gallery of Modern Art after breaking the railing.

The impact of the collision was so great that the vehicle was tossed into the air and overturned after hitting a branch. Anirudh and Sneha, who were on the back seat, were ejected out of the car.

Hearing the sound of collision, a Delhi police head constable rushed to the spot and found two of the victims lying on the road in a pool of blood. The other two were trapped inside the badly mangled black Skoda.

With help from some passers-by, the policeman swiftly removed the injured to Lohia Hospital where Anirudh and Sneha were declared dead on arrival. Satyajeet sustained serious head injuries, while Gaurav suffered bruises on the stomach and other parts of the body.

Through their identity cards, the police contacted the victims’ families. Enquiries revealed that Anirudh -- a second year student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College -- and Sneha -- an engineering student of Amity -- were residents of Noida. Gaurav, a businessman, is also from Noida, and Satyajeet -- a second year student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College -- is a resident of Siddhartha Extension in South Delhi. The car was registered in the name of Satyajeet’s father Amarjeet Singh.

The police said medical examination of the occupants revealed that they were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. While Gaurav was later shifted to a Noida hospital, Satyajeet was referred to Apollo Hospital in South Delhi. Satyajeet’s condition is said to be serious.

A case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving has been registered at the Tilak Marg police station. The police suspect that Gaurav was driving the vehicle. The bodies of Sneha and Anirudh were handed over to their relatives after post-mortem. “As the investigations are in the preliminary stage, we are trying to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the accident,” said a police officer.

The police are trying to verify if the accident was the result of a race between two vehicles.

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