In a tragic incident, a speeding BMW X5 car rammed into a WagonR Uber cab, killing the cab driver on the spot near the Munirka flyover in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on Sunday at 11.30 pm. Police said the accused, identified as 24-year-old Shoaib Kohli, was arrested from his house on Monday and booked for rash and negligent driving causing death.
The deceased, identified as Nazirul Islam, had joined the Uber fleet a day before he met with the fatal accident on Sunday.
The impact of crash was such that the rear portion of the WagonR was completely destroyed.
According to eyewitnesses, the accused — who works as an analyst in a multi-national company in Gurgaon — came out of the car and saw the victim was dead. Fearing of getting lynched by the mob, he fled the spot, said a police official.
During questioning, the accused told police that the cab driver suddenly applied brakes and his speeding BMW that was just behind the cab, rammed into it.
Police said the owner of the BMW X5 and accused’s mother Shehnaz Kohli is a member of the Delhi Gymkhana Club, and the vehicle is registered in the name of a company which has an office in Chandigarh.
His father is director in various food processing companies in the country. Kohli stays in the posh Panchsheel Enclave in South Delhi’s Hauz Khas.
The deceased, Nazirul Islam, was a resident of West Bengal and was the only earning member of a family of five that included two daughters.
One of the children is studying in 2nd standard in a Government school while the other is in playschool. Nazirul’s wife works as a domestic servant. He stayed in Gurgaon with his family.
Following the accident, the police contacted the Uber cab owner Taimur Islam who said he had last spoken to Nazirul at 8.08 pm on Sunday.
Earlier, several cab drivers had protested outside the Vasant Vihar police station, demanding arrest of the accused. They demand harsh punishment for the driver of BMW car and compensation for rehabilitation of victim’s family.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Chinmoy Biswal, said a case under Section 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against the accused at the Vasant Vihar police station.
“After the accident the victim was taken to AIIMS trauma centre where he succumbed to his injuries. The body was sent for post-mortem thereafter,” said the ADCP.