BMW crash: Delhi court sends woman driver to 2-day judicial custody

A Delhi court on Monday (September 15) sent Gaganpreet Kaur (38), the woman who allegedly drove the BMW car involved in the crash that killed a Ministry of Finance official and left his wife injured, to two days of judicial custody.

Duty Magistrate Akanksha Singh observed that the custodial interrogation of Kaur was not required. The magistrate also issued notices to Delhi Police and the victim's kin on the bail application moved by Kaur, and directed them to file their replies by September 17.

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The crash

Navjot Singh (52), Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, died on September 14. The accident happened when his motorcycle was hit by the said BMW on Ring Road around 1.30 pm, while returning home from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. His wife, Sandeep Kaur, who accompanied him, sustained serious injuries, including a fracture. She remains under treatment.

According to the FIR, Navjot Singh, a resident of Hari Nagar, was riding a bike with his wife when the car, allegedly driven by Gaganpreet of Gurugram, hit the bike. Kaur's husband, Parikshit Makkar, their two children and a house help were in the BMW at the time of the crash. Makkar also suffered minor injuries during the accident.

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FIR and allegations

Police registered a case against Kaur under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 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).

Several questions were raised about the way the situation was handled. The FIR mentioned that Gaganpreet took the victims to a healthcare facility more than 19 km away from the accident. The hospital was allegedly linked to Gaganpreet. The victim’s family alleged that priority was given to Gaganpreet and her husband in the hospital rather than Navjot and his wife, despite their serious injuries.

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Gaganpreet’s counsel opposed judicial custody

Gaganpreet’s counsel Vikas Pahwa opposed the police plea seeking judicial custody, saying the FIR was delayed by 10 hours. He said the allegations were contradictory to the press conference held by the DCP, the CCTV recording of the accident and the statement of those who took the injured and the deceased to the hospital.

“The DCP has stated that the CCTV shows that the BMW first hit the divider on the curve from the front, and the back of the BMW, therefore hit the two-wheeler. Then the two-wheeler hit the DTC bus because of which this incident happened, and unfortunately, one person died,” he told the judge. Pahwa added that there was no need to arrest Gaganpreet as she was already in the hospital.

“Since no recovery was supposed to be made, no accused was needed to be identified, and police custody demand has not even been sought, where was the need to take her into custody and send her to jail?” Pahwa asked.

There was no knowledge that the act of the perpetrator would result in the death of the deceased, he further said, adding that the accused ‘tried her best to give them the medical treatment”.

“The reason for her taking to the hospital was because she remembered that she herself was traumatised and thought that she would be able to get better treatment for victims in that hospital. There is no other reason which can be attributed to her in this regard. Since she herself was injured, the argument of the prosecution that she did this, for an oblique purpose, is completely absurd and preposterous,” Pahwa added.

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Victims taken to hospital 19 km away

Gaganpreet took Navjot Singh and his wife to Nulife Hospital, which is owned by one of her relatives, in north Delhi's GTB Nagar, more than 19 kilometres away from the accident site. 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 said that there is a possibility of tampering with the medical reports of the Gaganpreet 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 agency inputs)