Delhi BMW accident: On stretcher, wife’s final touch to Navjot Singh’s lifeless face as family chokes back sobs

On a humid Tuesday afternoon, grief hung heavy at Venkateshwar Hospital in Delhi’s Dwarka. Two stretchers lay side by side, one carrying the body of deputy secretary in the economic affairs department of the finance ministry (central) Navjot Singh, the other holding his battered wife, Sandeep Kaur. The woman is being treated at the hospital.

Forty-eight hours earlier, the couple had set out on a quiet Sunday ride to central Delhi’s Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, unaware that their lives were about to be torn apart by the screech of tyres and the shattering impact of a speeding BMW.

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Sandeep Kaur, still injured and bandaged, reached out to touch her husband’s lifeless face the last time before relatives carried him away for cremation. Around her, family members choked back sobs, unwilling to accept the cruelty of fate that had snatched away a husband, a father, and a son in the blink of an eye.

‘A great loss for the nation’: Friend

Navjot Singh, 52, was remembered by friends as a man of integrity and humility. His friend Rishabh, who looked emotional, told reporters, “Navjot’s loss is not just a loss for his family or friends. It is a great loss for the nation… Today is both his son’s birthday and, on the other hand, his cremation.”

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For his mother, Gurpal Kaur, the pain was raw, her words piercing the silence of grief. “…I am very distressed and heartbroken. My child, my precious child, is gone. My child was subjected to severe injustice. My daughter-in-law was also badly injured and is still in the hospital…” she said, her voice quivering, on Monday.

Navjot’s son, Navnoor Singh, recounted his parents’ last outing. “My parents left in the morning to visit Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. They then went to Karnataka Bhawan for lunch. After this, they were returning home when a speeding BMW hit them. I don’t know why the accused took my parents to a hospital which is 22 km away (some reports claimed 19). Had they taken them to a nearby hospital, my father’s life could have been saved. My mother is also injured. Doctors told me her femur bone is crushed. She has head injuries despite wearing a helmet.”

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The accused and the legal battle

Police said the BMW was being driven by Gaganpreet Kaur, a Gurugram resident, who was with her husband and two children at the time. “The vehicles have been seized and the spot was examined by the crime team. A FSL team also called at the spot. The accused and her husband had also got injuries and were admitted to the hospital,” the DCP said.

Kaur has been remanded to two days’ judicial custody. In her bail plea, she maintained that the incident was “wholly accidental” and unintentional. Her counsel argued she is a mother of two minor daughters, has no prior criminal record, and herself suffered a head injury in the crash.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, along with advocate Prabhav Ralli, opposed the Delhi Police’s remand request, citing a 10-hour delay in FIR registration. Police, however, have invoked provisions relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The bail plea will be heard on September 17.

Family shattered

The cremation procession from north Delhi’s Pratap Nagar to Beri Wala Bagh crematorium was a sombre one. Colleagues from the ministry of finance, neighbours, and relatives walked in silence, many wiping away tears.

Sandeep Kaur, who survived the accident but remains in hospital with grievous injuries, will now carry the weight of unimaginable loss. For her, Sunday’s bike ride was meant to be an outing with her husband and best friend. Instead, it became the day her world was turned upside down.

Dhaula Kuan BMW accident

Gaganpreet was arrested on culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges on Monday after being discharged from a hospital, police said.

Several questions were raised on the handling of the aftermath of the crash as the FIR alleged that Gaganpreet, took the victims – Navjot Singh and his wife Sandeep Kaur – to a healthcare facility more than 19 kilometres away from the accident site instead of any nearby hospital.

Also, the victims’ family alleged that Gaganpreet and her husband were treated before Navjot and his wife despite their serious injuries.

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against Gaganpreet under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The sections invoked include 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 125B (acts 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).

According to the FIR, Navjot Singh, a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed when the BMW rammed into his motorcycle on Ring Road around 1.30pm on Sunday. His wife sustained multiple injuries and a fracture and remains under treatment.

Gaganpreet, wife of Parikshit Makkar, is a resident of Gurugram. She and her husband, along with their two children and a maid, were in the BMW at the time of the crash. Her husband also sustained minor injuries.

Accused driver took Navjot Singh to GTB Nagar hospital

The accused woman took Navjot Singh and his wife to Nulife Hospital, which is owned by one of her relatives, in north Delhi’s GTB Nagar. Navjot’s family alleged that the small hospital, where Singh was declared “brought dead”, was linked to the accused.

When questioned why she did not take them to a nearby hospital, accused Gaganpreet claimed that she panicked and only knew about that hospital because her children had been treated there during the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior police official said.

Police sources told PTI that there is a possibility of tampering with the medical reports of the accused woman, who underwent treatment at the hospital, and the matter is under investigation.

In her statement to police, Sandeep Kaur said she had repeatedly pleaded with Kaur and her spouse to take them to the nearest hospital as her husband was unconscious and needed immediate treatment.

(With inputs from agencies)