The Gurgaon district court awarded two years’ rigorous imprisonment to 19-year-old Tapan Malik, who was involved in a fatal road accident on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Three teenagers were killed on June 14 last year when their car, driven by Malik, hit the divider after Malik lost control of the vehicle.

Convicting Malik under Sections 279 (rash or negligent driving), 304-A (causing death due to rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 181 (false statement on oath) and 185, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 7,500 on him.

According to the police, the students were returning from a late-night party at Hotel Samrat in Chanakyapuri area in South Delhi, and Malik was speeding. Around 2.30 am the car hit a divider on the Expressway after Malik lost control while trying to overtake a truck from the wrong side.

The three teenagers killed on the spot in the accident were Siddharth Mehran, Divyanshu Yadav and Karan Anand. All three were students of Class X and had gone out to celebrate after their final exams were over, the police said. Mehran and Yadav were students of G D Goenka World School, Sohna Road, and Anand studied at Pathways World School. 

Speaking on behalf of the other parents, Capt Praveen Mehran, Siddarth’s father, said their children did not know Malik. “Tapan was not even driving his own car at the time of the accident. He tried to escape after the accident but was caught by passersby when he returned to take his mobile phone.”