A 35-year-old man, who had gone to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport to pick up his mother and was travelling with her to their hometown of Jalandhar in Punjab, was killed in a freak accident near Singhu – the border between the Capital and Haryana — after a tyre of the car they were travelling in burst, causing the driver to veer into a cement jersey barricade, police said on Thursday.
A senior officer identified the deceased as Omkar Singh. He said the 35-year-old had gone with his friends Simran Singh, 30, and Amritpal Singh, 30, to IGI on Sunday to pick up his mother Jitender Kaur, 67, who had flown in from Canada. The four were in a Toyota Innova car – Simran Singh was driving – when the accident occurred.
The jersey barricade in question was one in a series of cement roadblocks installed by police at Singhu border during the farmers’ protest in November 2020, to prevent the demonstrators from entering the Capital. The protest ended after the Union government in December 2021 rolled back the farm laws they were protesting against. However, this security layer is yet to be removed – the barricades were placed in the middle of the road, and though have since been moved, they still allow only a passage for traffic to cross.
Locals have often complained to police about removing the barricades.
Giving details about Sunday’s accident, the officer quoted above said, “When they started on the highway, the front right tyre burst. They were not speeding but the car was going towards the left. It hit the cemented barricades placed on the road.”
The first information report (FIR), seen by HT, stated, “On interrogation from locals, it was revealed that an Innova hit the jersey barricades on the Singhu border flyover which led to the accident.”
The first responders to arrive at the scene were staff from Kondli police station in Haryana, who took the injured to hospital, where Omkar Singh’s body was preserved, and the others received treatment. The case was later transferred to Alipur police station in Delhi, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place.
Police registered a case under section 281 (rash driving), 125A (negligent act), and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the post mortem was conducted on Monday, after which the body was sent to Jalandhar and all injured were discharged.
Rajesh Kumar, a sweet shop owner near the Singh Border, said, “Every now and then, accidents are reported on this stretch because of those barricades. We have communicated to police multiple times about removing them but they don’t. This time, a person even died.”
Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Nidhin Valsan could not be reached for a comment.
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