A 50-year-old cyclist was on Sunday mowed down by an SUV after the driver allegedly lost control when one of its tyres burst in south-west Delhi’s Mahipalpur, the police said.
The deceased has been identified as Shubhendu Banerjee.
The accused driver, Somveer, has been arrested and a case under sections of the IPC pertaining to rash driving and death by negligence has been registered at the Vasant Kunj (North) police station.
Owner being quizzed
A senior officer said that the vehicle had a sticker which read ‘Delhi Cantonment Board Chairman, Defence Ministry’, but the police are yet to come across anyone with such a designation.
“The owner of the car, who claims to run a business in Delhi, has been brought in for questioning, while the driver, who was not inebriated at the time of the incident, has been booked,” the officer added.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Manoj C. said that a PCR call about the accident was received around 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, after which a police team reached the Mahipalpur flyover towards Dhaula Kuan.
The team found an abandoned sports utility vehicle (SUV) and a damaged sports bicycle on the corner of the road.
After a while, the police apprehended Somveer when he came back to the spot to retrieve the vehicle.
“During inquiry, Somveer revealed that the tyre of the SUV burst. The driver could not control the vehicle and ended up ramming the bicycle, throwing the victim on the ground,” the DCP said.
Somveer then rushed the victim to Safdarjung Hospital, but he was declared brought dead, the official added.
Sources said that Mr. Banerjee had begun his bicycle ride from his residence in Gurugram’s Sector-49 and travelled from Rajiv Chowk to Dhaula Kuan before reaching the Mahipalpur flyover, where the mishap took place.
‘Veteran cyclist’
Fellow cyclists described Mr. Banerjee as a veteran cyclist and someone who had been cycling for nearly 15 years now without missing a day.
Hemanshu Khanna, 39, who is part of the same cycling group as the deceased, said that all newbie cyclists used to look up to Mr. Banerjee and often learnt the ropes from him.
“He [Mr. Banerjee] had travelled several kilometres in his cycle all across the Delhi-NCR with various cycling groups and there was never a day that he missed riding on his bicycle. Riders used to respect him and got tips from him on things like how to build stamina for long rides,” said Mr. Khanna.
He added that after a picture of a mangled bicycle was shared on cycling groups on phones early on Sunday, he quickly recognised the bicycle as belonging to Mr. Banerjee and rushed to the spot of the incident. “He had started cycling from his mid-30s in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and wanted everyone to follow it... there is a lack of dedicated cycling tracks [in the city] due to which such incidents happen,” added Mr. Khanna, who has been a cycling enthusiast for almost three years now.
Another cyclist, 49-year-old Shilpi Malik, fondly remembered Mr. Banerjee as a “strong and an able rider who used to lead the group on cycling trips”.
“I had recently started cycling with him... he was a role model for aspiring cyclists and the way he rode long distances at this age was something to look up to,” she added.
According to the “Delhi Road Crash Report-2021” published by Delhi Traffic Police, the percentage of cyclists in the total number of road crash victims during the last eight years has been around 2-4%.
The report added that the percentage of cyclists killed in road accidents came down, with 3.6% of casualties in road accidents being cyclists in 2021, against 4% in 2020.
