A day after a senior Finance Ministry official was killed when a BMW hit his motorcycle in the Delhi Cantonment area, Delhi Police Monday said the woman driving the car has been booked under sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and for tampering with evidence after the accident.
Navjot Singh, 56, who was posted as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Finance Ministry, was killed and his wife was injured when the BMW rammed into them on Sunday afternoon.
The BMW was being driven by a woman, Gaganpreet Makkar, who was accompanied by her husband, Parikshit Makkar, and two young children, police said.
“The duo — Gaganpreet and Parikshit — took Navjot and his injured wife to Nulife Hospital in GTB Nagar, 19 km away,” a police officer said.
Gaganpreet and her husband were also admitted there, the officer said.
After she was discharged on Monday afternoon, she was arrested and produced before a Duty Metropolitan Magistrate, which remanded her to judicial custody for two days.
“Asked why she did not take them to a nearby hospital, during questioning, she claimed she panicked, saying she knew only this hospital as her children were admitted there during Covid. The blood sample report to ascertain if she was driving under the influence is awaited,” a police officer said.
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During the investigation, police found that Gaganpreet’s father, Javinder Singh, runs a grocery business in East Delhi. Police are also investigating any connection between the hospital owners and the family of the accused.
Police also recovered CCTV footage, which shows the BMW first hitting a divider and toppling over. The vehicle was purportedly moving at such a high speed that it continued to slide for several metres before crashing into a motorcycle. The impact pushed the bike into a blue DEVI bus.
Police also said they never got a PCR call regarding the accident. “We received three PCR calls, which were related to a traffic snarl. It was only when we reached the spot that we saw an accident had taken place,” the officer added.
According to police, the car was registered in Parikshit’s name. The family lives in West Delhi’s Rajouri Garden. Parikshit is in the business of making horse leather saddles, seats, covers, and belts in Delhi, they said.
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The case has been lodged under sections 281 (negligent and rash driving), 125B (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) at Delhi Cantonment police station.
