Three construction workers were killed and another was critically injured after a speeding car crashed into a worksite on the Dwarka Expressway near Ram Chowk early on Thursday, police said. The driver, identified as Vedant Khanna, a 20-year-old third-year Economics Honours student at St. Stephen’s College, was also seriously injured and remains in hospital.
Senior police officers said the crash occurred between 1.50 am and 2.30 am when a white hatchback travelling from Delhi struck workers installing an iron fence on the central median. The vehicle hit the worksite’s safety barriers, ran over workers on the divider, collided with a parked pickup truck and mounted the median before coming to a stop.
The three workers who died were identified as Bijender Singh, 58, his cousin Pappu Singh, 55, and site contractor Satish Chand, 43. Another worker, Ram Kumar, 28, is in the intensive care unit of a private hospital. All four men were from Sarvana village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district and had moved to Gurugram two days before the crash. They had been living together in rented accommodation in nearby Bajghera.
According to the complaint filed by Jitender Kumar, Chand’s brother and a worker at the site, the work area had been clearly demarcated with reflective warning boards, barricades and trestles. The complaint said two workers were pouring concrete into the foundation at the base of the median while others supported iron railing panels when the car entered the work zone.
The impact pushed the parked utility truck forward by more than 100 metres and left the hatchback severely damaged. Passersby and workers who escaped the crash alerted emergency services. Police and ambulances reached the location, and the injured workers were taken to Civil Hospital. Bijender Singh and Pappu Singh were declared dead there, while Chand died from his injuries later that night.
Khanna was initially taken to a local hospital before being shifted to a private facility. Workers and the complainant alleged that he appeared to be drunk, but police said this could only be established through forensic examination. Gurugram Police Public Relations Officer Sandeep Turan said blood samples had been collected to determine whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol or other substances.
The vehicles involved in the crash have been impounded. Based on Ram Kumar’s statement, police registered an FIR against Khanna under provisions relating to causing death by negligence, rash driving and acts endangering life or personal safety. The forensic reports will determine whether alcohol or other substances were involved in the crash.
