Five people, including a 3-year-old girl, were injured on Tuesday night when an overspeeding call centre cab rammed into them while they were relaxing on a raised platform outside their residence in J-Block, Mongolpuri. Power cut had forced them outdoors.  Eyewitnesses claimed that the driver of the cab was fleeing after hitting a motorcyclist near the Sanjay Gandhi crossing. It was then that he lost control of the car over a sharp bend and rammed into the platform, ultimately coming to halt in front of a house in the locality.

The injured - Karan (13), Ravi (16), Neeraj (17), 3-year-old Manisha and her grandfather Narender Lal (65) - were rushed to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital where four of them were discharged by morning. Doctors said that Manisha was badly hurt.  The police have arrested its driver, Dinesh, and registered a case of rash and negligent driving. The car has also been impounded. The other occupants could not be identified.

Recalling the incident, Rajni, one of the eyewitnesses, said  “The car approached us after swerving from the central road divider for 50 metres and hit a motorcycle parked on the road, dragged it for 25 metres and then climbed on to the pavement. While most of us managed to flee, five people couldn’t escape. The little girl’s leg was caught in the wheels. The car then hit another motorbike parked on the pavement and the iron staircase of house number J-1108 before coming to a halt in front of the entrance door of the house,” she said.

It took police almost half-an-hour to reach the spot, even though they were informed immediately, alleged Hosier Singh, another eyewitness, adding that the driver was under the influence of alcohol.

Disputing the allegations, a senior police officer said: “We have no information that the car was involved in another accident previously. Neither can we say for sure that the driver was drunk. We are waiting for final report. If proved we will also book him for drunken driving.” (more…)