Originally from Dehradun, Tanushree Dutt booked a bike taxi around 7pm from her office at Sector 49 IT Park.Satendra Singh of Badshapur picked her up and headed for Sector 36A, her drop location.
Instead of navigating through internal roads, Singh took the expressway to save time and fuel.
“We were near AVL 36 society when a vehicle at high speed crashed into us from behind. Both of us were flung in the air and landed with a thud on the road a few metres ahead. I lost consciousness then,” said the bike rider.
“When I came to after a few minutes, I saw the woman lying on the road face down. She was oozing blood from her wounds,” Singh added.
Singh dialled the police helpline number. An ambulance took them to Civil Hospital in Sector 10, where Tanushree was declared dead on arrival.
Singh, who was treated for minor injuries, lodged a complaint at Sector 37 police station. A case was registered against the vehicle driver under sections 279 (rash driving on a public way), 337 (causing injuries due to a rash or negligent act), 304A (causing death due to a rash or negligent act) and 427 (mischief and thereby causing loss or damage to an amount of fifty rupees or above) of IPC on Tuesday. The body was handed over to her relatives after an autopsy.
The accident exposed the lack of enforcement on the newly opened expressway and the need for stricter vigil so that banned vehicles like two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws are stopped at entry points. Two and three-wheelers are not allowed on expressways because of the wide gap between their speeds and those of cars that cruise at almost 100kmph.
ASI Munish Kumar said two-wheeler riders should also be responsible enough to not violate traffic rules. “There are sign boards that tell you that two-wheelers can’t take the expressway. In this case, the bike taxi was hit by a vehicle from behind at high speed. Both were taken to hospital, where the woman was declared dead on arrival,” the ASI added.
The cops are scanning footage from CCTV cameras to trace the vehicle that crashed into the two-wheeler. “Teams have been formed to scan the footage sourced from various cameras. The injured bike rider is now out of danger,” Kumar said.
DCP (traffic) Virender Vij insisted that regular patrols are carried out on the expressway by traffic cops as well as teams of National Highways Authority of India.
“Yes, two-wheelers are not allowed on the expressway. Now, we have to find out how the bike taxi went past enforcement teams and got onto the speedway. We have our teams that issue challans to bikers and auto drivers on the expressway. They also keep watch on speeding and wrong-side driving,” he added.
Tanushree left her Dehradun home a few years ago to study interior designing in Chandigarh. From there, she landed a job at a private firm in Gurgaon.