harsh

Gurgaon road caves in, car trapped

GURGAON: Twenty-five-year-old Ashutosh Chaturvedi had a lucky escape when the ground beneath his car hollowed out, quite literally, on Friday. The mishap took place around 11.30am as the approach road to Delhi-Gurgaon expressway near the Signature Towers suddenly caved in when Ashutosh, a stock broker, was driving to his office.

"He was driving his Hyundai i10. Just as he crossed the south city police post the road caved in and his car fell inside the pit,'' said Jagdish Prasad, SHO of sector 29 police station.

"We reached the spot in about 15 minutes and found Ashutosh lying unconscious with his head against the steering wheel. The car was at a 60 degree angle with the ground. We pulled him out and rushed him to the hospital,'' said Prasad adding that the car was later taken out with the help of a crane.

Within minutes, the other side of the same road caved in when a truck was passing the stretch. "There is about 40feet-wide cave in the road now. We have put barricades around it so that no more vehicles fall in it,'' added Prasad.

Ashutosh, who was rushed to Paras Hospital, reportedly received injuries on his face and head. Doctors at the hospital said he was out of danger. The front portion of his car, however, got badly damaged in the accident.

Later in the day, an FIR was lodged under section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt by endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC and 13 1B of Prevention of Corruption Act against unnamed officials of HUDA, under whose jurisdiction the road falls.

No arrests have been made in the case so far. "We have questioned a number of officials. However, we have not yet ascertained which officials were currently supervising the project and arrests will be made after we fix responsibility,'' said Prasad.

Meanwhile, HUDA officials said the accident happened because a sewer beneath the road had been leaking for some time. "Because of the leaking sewer there was a kind of hollow created beneath the road which might have led to the accident,'' said a senior HUDA official.

30 May 2009, TNN