BMW crash: Accused face culpable homicide, evidence tampering charges for delayed hospitalisation

New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) The woman arrested for driving the BMW that killed a senior finance ministry official here, along with her husband, 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.

Navjot Singh (52), a deputy secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, was killed on Sunday afternoon when his motorcycle was hit by a BMW car while he was returning from the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara with his wife, Sandeep Kaur. While Singh died, his wife was seriously injured in the incident.

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.

Furthermore, they also did not make a single PCR call to alert the police, he added.

"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.

Meanwhile, police said during interrogation, Gaganpreet told investigators that she was in a state of panic after the crash and could not recall how it happened.

When questioned why she did not take the injured couple to a nearby hospital, she claimed that she panicked and was familiar with Nulife Hospital as her children had been treated there during the COVID-19 pandemic, the officer added.

However, police sources said that the hospital is owned by the relatives of the accused couple.

According to the source, Parikshit has been referred to another hospital.

"He was referred to a specialised orthopaedic hospital due to a nasal-bone injury. We will also question Parikshit after he is discharged," he said. PTI SSJ RHL