In a tragic turn of events, a 17-year-old law student was killed when his speeding sedan hit the pavement, flipped over and fell down a flyover in Lajpat Nagar here in the early hours of Thursday. He was returning home to Noida after a party at a five-star hotel in Nehru Place when the accident took place.
Mrinal Deep Singh, who would have turned 18 this October, was enrolled for a five-year integrated course in law from O. P. Jindal Global University at Sonepat in Haryana. He had driven down to the hotel straight from Sonepat on Wednesday evening while three of his friends followed him in a hired Innova car. After the party, Mrinal left for home at around 2-30 a.m. in his Honda Civic car. On reaching the flyover, he apparently lost control over the vehicle and rammed into the pavement before falling off the flyover.
“The car skidded on the pavement, jumped over the railings and landed below the flyover. It appears the front portion of the car hit the ground first as it was most severely damaged. The windscreen was smashed and one of the front wheels had come off. The air bags had opened up and burst. The car was probably travelling at high speed,” said a senior police officer.
A motorist who witnessed the accident alerted the Police Control Room around 3 a.m. The victim was taken to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences where he was declared brought dead. A case has been registered under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) at the Lajpat Nagar police station.
It is also being investigated if Mrinal was engaged in a race with his friends as one of them had made a call to an ambulance service after the accident.
The police said action would be taken against the car owner for violating the Motor Vehicle Act provision which prohibits a vehicle owner from allowing a minor to use it.
