Even as 32-year-old Gurvinder Singh was arrested in connection with the road accident that claimed the life of Union Rural Affairs Minister Gopinath Munde, both the drivers (the second being Mr. Munde’s) have claimed that the other jumped the signal at the crossing of Aurobindo Marg and Prithviraj Road.
Gurvinder, who made the call to the Police Control Room informing about the accident, was detained after the police reached the spot. According to the police, prima facie they found that Gurvinder’s Indica was moving at a very high speed when it hit Mr. Munde’s SX 4 driven by Virendra. Gurvinder was subsequently booked under section 279 (rash and negligent driving) and 304(A) (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and was arrested.
In their respective statements recorded before the police, both Virendra and Gurvinder claimed that they had the green signal to move ahead. “Virendra told us that there were 26 seconds to go before the signal was to turn red. A similar claim was made by Gurvinder. We are verifying the claims but even if Virendra jumped the signal, it was the high speed of the other vehicle that caused the accident,” said a senior police officer.
He added that the Indica car's bumper was badly damaged due to the impact of the collision and it skidded for 31 feet from the point of impact suggesting the high speed in which it was being driven.
“If the other driver is found guilty of jumping signal, he will be slapped with a monetary fine under the Motor Vehicles Act,” said the officer.
However, the Delhi Police had taken a diametrically opposite view in another recent accident involving the car of a senior advocate at the crossing of Man Singh Road and Rajpath. Back then, the person who was injured and whose vehicle was rammed from the side was booked for rash driving for jumping the signal.
The officer also added that forensic team will reconstruct the incident to find out the exact sequence of events. Crime team and experts from the traffic wing of the Delhi Police would also analyse the accident.
