Atul Arora would have been a Class XII student today, attending the first day of his last year in school, had a speeding Mercedes missed the scooty he was riding in west Delhi’s Paschim Vihar on Sunday night.
At 10:35p.m., the 17-year-old commerce student of Pitampura’s Bal Bharati School was hit by the speeding car opposite GH 9 market in Paschim Vihar. He was declared “brought dead” at the nearby Balaji Action Hospital around 11 p.m. The incident happened when the boy was returning home on his scooty after dropping his friend Deepak Nanda to his house at nearby GH 5/7. The two had spent the evening at a satsang , serving the people who had gathered at an ashram in Sundar Vihar.
“Atul had received his Class XI result the day before and today was his first day as a Class XII student, which he didn’t live to see,” said Ruchi Arora, Atul’s elder sister. Sangeeta Arora, Atul’s mother, was inconsolable.
‘Car at 120 kmph’
According to eyewitnesses, the Mercedes was allegedly moving at a speed of around 120 kmph. It tried to overtake a tempo and in the process hit Atul’s scooty. The boy was thrown off the scooty, which dragged a few metres with the car. He landed on the road as the Mercedes, which allegedly had two occupants, sped away, said the eyewitnesses, adding that Atul was immediately taken to the hospital, but in vain.
“He took a deep breath twice in front of us and was bleeding profusely. We asked people to stop, but nobody did. Then I saw my friend’s brother driving a car and stopped him. He and his friend took the boy to the hospital. Within 15 minutes, the brother called to inform me that the boy was no more,” recounted 24-year-old Ashita Saini, who witnessed the accident. Saini was one of the persons who called the police.
Car make confirmed
The police confirmed that the car involved in the accident was of Mercedes make, but said they had not been able to identify the driver till late Monday evening. “Efforts are on to get further clue about its registration number. The boy was not wearing a helmet and he didn’t have a licence,” said DCP (Outer) Rishi Pal. When asked, Atul’s sister said he was going nearby, so they allowed him to ride the scooty.
Meanwhile, Atul’s house was packed with relatives and neighbours who were still in shock after the tragedy. Anil Sharma, a friend of Atul’s father, remembered the boy as a “sincere, dedicated, polite and lovable child”.
