3 IAF men killed,4 others injured as SUV rams their car on Rajpath

According to police,owner of the Omni,Lakhandass,had picked up five of his colleagues from the Dhansa unit around 7 am. One of them was accompanied by his wife on the trip.

“At Rajpath-Janpath crossing the traffic blinkers were on. They slowed down while crossing the signal and also honked. But the speeding Skoda SUV,which was on way to Safdarjang Enclave from Le Meridien Hotel,rammed the van from the left,” said a senior police officer.

Eyewitnesses have reportedly told the police that the traffic lights were on blinker mode — indicating that a vehicle is supposed to slow down before crossing the signal — and the Omni was already in the process of crossing the signal when the speeding Skoda crashed into it.

The impact,police said,hurled the Omni van to the opposite side of the road. Manish Chauhan,a leading aircraftman,was in the front passenger seat and died on the spot,a police officer said.

All seven occupants of the Omni were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,where SK Chakrawarti,a warrant officer,and Lakhandass also succumbed to injuries. All three suffered severe head injuries,police said.

The injured have been identified as Chakrawarti’s wife Minakshi,Salender Kumar,S S Vysakh and Ajay Kumar Yadav. Kumar,Vysakh and Yadav are also leading aircraftmen. Minakshi is a housewife. Police filed an FIR on Yadav’s statement.

The Skoda’s driver has been booked for causing death by negligence,rash driving and causing hurt, said K C Dwivedi,Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi).

At the time of the incident,one Vinod Bharti,who runs an NGO,was seated in the passenger seat of the Skoda. The two were on way to pick up a few visitors from Safdarjung Enclave. The SUV,police said,is owned by a one S L Ganapathy,a resident of Kalkaji,who runs an export business.