An emotional scene was visible on Tuesday at a hospital where stretcher-bound Sandeep Kaur reached out for a final hug to her husband, Navjot Singh, who was taken away for cremation.
With tears rolling down her face and pain wracking her body, Kaur reached out from her stretcher to touch Singh’s lifeless face.
The two stretchers were placed side by side — one bearing Singh’s body and the other bearing his seriously injured wife — amid stunned silence in the hospital room.
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The family members had brought Singh’s body to her room for a final goodbye before his cremation.
Navjot Singh, 52, a deputy secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, was killed on Sunday afternoon when a speeding BMW car rear-ended the motorcycle on which he and his wife were travelling near Delhi Cantonment metro station.
Kaur, a school teacher, sustained multiple fractures and is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The couple was returning home in Pratap Nagar when the BMW, reportedly out of control, struck their motorcycle from behind.
Before the accident, they had spent Sunday morning together visiting Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in central Delhi and having lunch at Karnataka Bhavan in RK Puram.
Singh suffered severe injuries to his head and face, while Kaur was left critically injured.
The couple was taken to a hospital about 19 km from the crash site, but Singh succumbed to injuries shortly after arrival.
Police said an investigation is underway to ascertain the sequence of events leading to the accident, including whether reckless driving was involved.
They are also examining the CCTV footage collected from the stretch of the road and eyewitness accounts.
Accused face culpable homicide, evidence tampering charges
The woman arrested for driving the BMW that killed the senior finance ministry official in New Delhi, or her husband, who was also injured in the accident, failed to inform police while taking the victims to a distant hospital, prompting investigators to add charges of culpable homicide and evidence tampering against the duo, police said on Tuesday.
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A case has been registered under sections 281 (rash driving), 125B (endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said they added sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing disappearance of evidence as the accused and her husband decided to take Singh and his wife, Sandeep Kaur, to a hospital more than 19 km away from Dhaula Kuan, where the incident took place.
“They themselves decided to take the couple to Nulife Hospital, more than 19 km away from the accident site and did not provide them medical care at the earliest despite the presence of big hospitals nearby,” a senior police officer said.
“The couple also did not make any PCR call regarding the accident and did not prompt police, who could have offered assistance or taken them to a nearby hospital. Thus, we have invoked sections 105 and 238 apart from 281 and 125 B,” he added.
In her statement to police, Sandeep Kaur said she had repeatedly pleaded with the accused couple — Gaganpreet Kaur and Parikshit — to take them to the nearest hospital as her husband was unconscious and needed immediate treatment.
“Instead, the lady took us to a small hospital in GTB Nagar, more than 19 km away. That lady told me her name was Gaganpreet Kaur,” she said.