5 friends returning home meet with accident, 1 dead

Four of them injured critically; had gone to visit Red Fort

A 23-year-old man was killed and four of his friends were critically injured after their sports utility vehicle hit a divider and overturned near Shahdara flyover on Friday night, the police said.

Deceased Anil Kumar was driving the vehicle. His friends Dharmendra Singh, Taslim, Mirza Gulzar and Dharamender are battling for life at a hospital, the police added.

Mechanical problems

The police said the victim, all resident of Ghaziabad, were returning home after visiting the Red Fort.

The incident happened just before the start of the flyover. Preliminary investigations suggest that the car developed mechanical problems, due to which Anil lost control of the vehicle. He was unable to slow down the SUV, which hit the central verge and toppled a few times before turning turtle, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad.

Anil’s body has been sent for post-mortem and will be handed over to his family on Saturday.

A case under Sections 304A (causing death due to negligence) and negligent driving under 279 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. The police are waiting for one of the victims to be fit for statement to establish the sequence of events that led to the accident.