Three friends die as car hits trolley with protruding iron rods in Delhi

NEW DELHI: In the third accident involving heavy vehicles in the past four days in the city, a car rammed a trolley full of protruding iron rods and attached to a tractor on Shadipur flyover in west Delhi's Moti Nagar early on Sunday, killing three of the four occupants of the car. The four, all friends, were catching up after a long time and were driving back from a restaurant at Punjabi Bagh when tragedy struck at 1.30am.

While police said the tractor was moving slowly, the families of the deceased alleged it was parked in the middle of the "dimly lit" flyover with a punctured tyre.Police are looking for the driver of the tractor.

Impromptu treat turns out to be last one
The incident took place in front of the Kirti Nagar Metro station when the group of friends was going back to their respective homes in east Delhi’s Pandav Nagar and Jhilmil area. While the deceased have been identified as Charandeep Singh (38), Rajesh Sharma (32) and Tarun Gupta (42), the sole survivor is Parveen Singh (38), also the owner of the Swift Dzire car, one that a friend of his was driving.

Kamaljeet Singh, father of Charandeep, recalled how everyone was ready for dinner when Charandeep got a call from Parveen who then asked him to quickly get ready as he had planned an impromptu treat for his friends.

“My son was hesitant at first because his favourite meal was ready to be served at home, but when his friends insisted, he got ready and within minutes, his friends turned up at our house. They stayed with us for a few moments and then went away, saying they would be back in a couple of hours. Since they were meeting after quite some time, none of us even insisted that he stayed back home. My son waved and went. That was the last time we saw him,” recalled the teary eyed father.

“There’s a great restaurant in Punjabi Bagh that I want all of you to try,” Parveen had said while making the plan. At 10.30pm, these friends left for the restaurant to try Parveen’s favourite dish and after a couple of hours, took off to head back home. While on the way to the restaurant, Parveen drove his car, but since he was too tired, he asked Sharma to drive while returning.
They were barely half way through when Sharma rammed the tractor-trolley. The impact was such that the front portion of the car was entirely crushed, killing the trio at the spot and leaving Parveen unconscious. He was sitting behind the driver (Rajesh) while Tarun sat with him on the rear seat. Charandeep sat on the passenger seat.
DCP (west) Deepak Purohit said that the tractor was moving slowly when the car hit it. “We have registered a case and are investigating into the matter. The truck driver escaped from the spot. Our teams are looking for him,” he said. Police say they have seized the tractor and have registered an FIR in the case.
The inconsolable family members said the four were very happy to be catching up after many days but they’d never thought this would be the last time they’re seeing them. Charanjeet, they say, had cancelled the plan but his family says that his friends convinced him at the last moment and took him along. This is when the nightmare began.
Family members say when they got a call from the PCR informing them about the accident, they rushed to the spot. “We couldn’t believe what had happened. When we went there we saw that the stretch was not lit at all and the heavy vehicle was parked in the middle of the road. One of the tyres was punctured as well,” said Kamaljeet.
Rajesh Sharma worked in a courier company at Mahipalpur and is survived by his wife and two daughters. Charandeep is survived by his wife, daughter and son. Tarun Gupta ran a computer shop at his residence in Pandav Nagar and leaves nehind his wife and daughter.