Two months before his children's wedding, tea seller killed in PCR van crash in Delhi's Mandir Marg

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) Despite suffering a physical disability, Gangaram Tiwari, had plans to earn enough money in the next two months from his tea-stall for the wedding of his children in November. But on Thursday morning his family's world came crashing after a PCR van rammed into the tea stall in Delhi's Mandir Marg, killing 52-year-old Tiwari, the sole breadwinner for his family.

He was sleeping at his tea shop when the accident occurred around 5 am on Thursday, a senior police officer said. The Police Control Room (PCR) van driver Constable Khimlesh, has been arrested and the Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Police has been suspended.

Gangaram's son Sukumar Tiwari, who is in his early 20s, had come to Delhi a few months ago and lived with his father in the tea stall. On Thursday, Sukumar was not at the tea stall as he had gone to work as a labourer nearby.

Recently, he also purchased a motorcycle on EMI to work as a driver for an app based aggregator.

"My father was the breadwinner of our family. My mother met with an accident a year ago and she is undergoing treatment. I have five siblings and only my eldest sister, aged around 30 years, has been married," Sukumar told PTI.

He said that their family had plans for two weddings in November -- one his sister's, who is aged around 24 and another his own.

"My father was working day and night to save up money for our weddings. He used to earn 30,000 to 35,000 a month. He couldn't even walk properly because of his physical disability," Gangaram's son said.

"Yet, he was working tirelessly to earn more and I had also just started to work to help him. But all of that has come to a crushing halt because of this accident," he said, adding that some of his siblings are also completing their studies.

Sukumar said that he rushed to the tea stall around 5.30 am when people gathered to stop the police personnel from fleeing the scene.

"The police personnel were heavily intoxicated. When a local tried to get liquor bottles from the PCR van, a policemen brandished a gun to his head. They also threw away a local's phone who was recording them," he claimed.

However, police said that medical reports confirmed that the personnel involved in the accident were not under the influence of alcohol.

Rajendra Tiwari, Gangaram’s brother-in-law, told PTI that Gangaram's family is so poor that they can't even come here from Gonda.

"We will take the body to Gonda. Those who are supposed to protect us have caused such an accident," he added.

Gangaram was the breadwinner of his family and has six children, one of whom is his mute son.

"Only one of them is married while some are also completing their education. My sister's life has been devastated. We demand justice and compensation for the family," Rajendra, who works as a vegetable seller in Kotla Mubarakpur, said.

Locals described Gangaram as a "hardworking and honest" man who used to wake up at 4.30 am to sell tea. "He was a very nice man, living and selling tea here for almost a decade. We used to keep his milk in our fridge as he did not have a fridge of his own," Geeta, a resident in the area, said.

Gangaram is survived by his wife and six children, including a son who lives in Delhi. His wife and his other children reside in Gonda, a police officer said.

One of his leg has been shorter from the other since birth and his other leg was crushed in an accident 10 years ago. His body has been sent for postmortem and further investigation is underway, police said. PTI SSJ SSJ OZ OZ