A man was charred to death when his Royal Enfield motorcycle caught fire upon colliding with a stationary tempo in South-West Delhi’s Shankar Vihar on Wednesday morning.
Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the bleeding victim was lying unconscious under the motorcycle when it suddenly went up in flames. The victim has been identified as Manik Gaur, a Vasant Kunj resident who works for a private firm. He was travelling on the National Higway-8 around 2 p.m. on Wednesday when the accident took place.
A tempo with a punctured tyre was stationed on the roadside. “The motorcyclist was apparently riding at a high speed because of which he was unable to bring the two-wheeler to an immediate halt on suddenly finding the tempo ahead,” said a senior police officer.
Gaur was thrown off the motorcycle and both skid a short distance before the two-wheeler landed on top of him. Within moments of coming to a halt, the motorcycle went up in flames. Since Gaur was lying unconscious because of possible severe injuries, he was unable to react and his clothes caught fire. Police suspect that the collision would have caused the motorcycle’s fuel tank to leak, igniting the fire.
Seeing the blaze, some locals rushed to his aide, but it was too late by then. They even tried using small fire extinguishers, but to no avail. Police said the flames had caused Gaur to gain semi-consciousness, but he was unable to react. Whether he died of burn injuries or due to the impact of the collision will be known only after the autopsy report arrives, police said. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared brought dead.
His motorcycle number helped identify his address and his family was informed about his death. His body has been handed over to them.
Eyewitnesses said the unconscious victim was under the bike when it went up in flames
