One killed, four hurt after car rams rickshaw

A man was killed and four others injured when an allegedly speeding car rammed a cycle-rickshaw in west Delhi’s Tagore Garden in the early hours of Monday, police said.

Prima facie it appears the rickshaw was travelling on the wrong side of the road when the allegedly speeding white car rammed it head-on, killing a 23-year-old man, Ram Singh, and injuring four others in the rickshaw.

While three of the injured are said to be out of danger, the unidentified rickshaw-puller, is battling for his life at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in Hari Nagar. Police have obtained CCTV footage of the car that allegedly rammed the rickshaw. However, neither the number plate nor the brand of the car was clearly visible. The police is trying to identify the vehicle and its driver.

The accident happened around 12.45am near the Metro station. The deceased, Ram Singh, and his three colleagues had hired the rickshaw after finishing their daily work at a restaurant in the area, said Vijay Kumar, DCP (West). HTC

Airtel too is eyeing a slice of the new pie.

“We are working on a new hybrid STB that will enable users to watch TV as well as stream content,” an Airtel source said.

Airtel’s new STB is expected to corner the market-share of smart TV-makers and streaming devices, according to industry experts.

Videocon’s launch is likely to prompt players such as DEN network and Siti Cable to come out with their products soon.

“Reliance Jio is pushing for its Android-based STB, which will come with Jio apps,” said Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research.

“The rise in home broadband and free data, along with appbased remote controls, will give rise to a new digitised STB penetration.”

Of about 10 million flat panel TVs shipped to India, nearly five million units are smart TVs, Counterpoint data show. The smart TV market size in India is around ₹24,000 crore.

However, Faisal Kawoosa, analyst at CyberMedia Research, was sceptical about the all-in-one STBs.

Users don’t like to be bound by the manufacturer with a specific set of apps and we have seen this with smartphones. The new STBs’ success may be limited as these will have to rely on pre-installed apps in contrast to access to a smart app store in a smart TV.”

Tata Sky, which was the first DTH that tried to digitise STBs, is working on a concept called Webapps.

“Tata Sky+ customers are able to use apps while watching TV,” said Harit Nagpal, the company’s MD and CEO.

“Tata Sky is providing customers an additional interface to access information and games from popular apps through their TV, apart from conventional handheld devices.”

Smart TV makers are unfazed by the new product.

“Customers who need to buy a smart TV go with the inbuilt smart TV from the manufacturer ... people tend to use these devices (STBs) to their existing non-smart TVs,” said Neeraj Bahl, head of consumer electronic business of Panasonic India.

VU Technologies declined to comment on the matter, while Google, Samsung and LG had not responded to HT’s query at the time of going to press.