Radio channel manager dies after car falls in drain
NOIDA: A 28-year-old group manager with a private radio channel died after her car fell into a drain around 1.30am on Wednesday at Fresco Chowk roundabout in Sector 85.
Neeraj Kumar, police post in charge, Sector 85 said Tania Khanna was on her way to a colleague’s house in Sector 137 when the accident took place. Her colleague was driving ahead in another car.
According to eyewitnesses, they heard the screeching sound of a car’s brakes when they were asleep the accident spot.
“We saw a car coming at us from the Panchsheel underpass road. The car was skidding and it broke through the bamboo bridge on the drain. The car’s bumper then struck the embankment of the drain on which our shop is located and the vehicle toppled and went inside the drain,” said Basant, the owner of Om Sai Nursery, which is situated close to the accident spot.
Basant alerted the nearby police post and personnel rushed to the spot. His wife, Rani, said they tried to look inside the drain but the car had turned over and they could not spot the victim.
Police called a crane from phase 2 to take out Khanna’s Hyundai Verna car. They brought Khanna out and rushed her to Yatharth Hospital in Sector 110 where doctors declared her brought dead, said Kumar.
“Khanna left her office in Noida Sector 16 around 1 am. She and her colleague were driving their separate cars towards Sector 137. “He was driving ahead and when he couldn’t see her following his car, he returned and found that she has met with an accident,” said Kumar.
The police officer suspected that Khanna might be speeding and lost control over the vehicle at the roundabout. Eyewitnesses said Khanna was taken out of the car from the back seat, suggesting she struggled to come out.
Hospital authorities said the cause of death may be drowning. “The victim was already dead when she was brought to the hospital. There were no external injuries on her body. Most probably the cause of death is drowning. However, it will be clear only once the postmortem report comes out,” said Anurag, manager, Yatharth Hospital.