Two friends killed, three hurt as sedan crashes into tree in Mohali
The friends were on their way from Mohali to Chandigarh to celebrate a friend’s birthday past midnight when crash took place on the road dividing Sectors 78, 88
A midnight plan to celebrate a birthday turned into tragedy for five friends after their speeding sedan rammed into a tree, killing two of them, on the Sector 78-88 dividing road around 1.20 am on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Saksham Sharma, 22, and Rhythm Seth, 19. Saksham was behind the wheel of the Dehradun-registered Chevrolet Cruze (UK07-BJ-5346), while Rhythm was sitting next to him when the collision took place, said police.
Their three friends, Rasik Grover, Krishna Aneja and Kapil Rajput, all in their early 20s, were in the back seat and survived with injuries. All five are natives of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
According to police, they were headed to Chandigarh to celebrate the birthday of a friend. Cakes were recovered from the car that was left completely mangled due to the crash.
While Seth, daughter of a property dealer, was enrolled in a course at Orane Beauty Institute in Kharar, all other victims were students of a private college in Saharanpur, said police.
Driver lost control of the vehicle
As per police, the friends were coming from Landran road and had taken the turn towards Purab Premium Apartments. As they reached the Sector 78-88 dividing road around 1.20 am, Sharma failed to control the speed of the car that ended up crashing into a roadside tree, before overturning and coming to a halt. The impact of the collision uprooted the tree.
The victims managed to make a call to the police control room around 1.30 am, following which a PCR rushed to the scene and transported them to the civil hospital in Phase 6, where Sharma and Seth were declared dead.
“The bodies were handed over to the families after autopsies at the civil hospital. We are awaiting the autopsy report to ascertain whether the driver was driving under the influence of liquor,” a cop said.
ASI Kamal, the investigating officer of the case, said all three injured victims were out of danger. “Aneja and Rajput are still under treatment, while Grover was discharged after first-aid,” he shared.
Jaspreet Singh Kahlon, station house officer (SHO), Sohana police station, said inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were initiated in the case.
