Cops probing if one victim was learning to ride
SIGNATURE BRIDGE Sharma’s family says he did not know how to ride a motorcycle; had barred him from riding bike after accident a few months ago
NEW DELHI: The twenty-year-old medical student, Chander Shekhar Sharma, who died along with his roommate Satyavijay Shankaram, in a road accident on the Signature Bridge’s elevated approach road, was injured in an accident involving a motorcycle a few months ago. His family had also barred him from riding a motorcycle, said his friends and neighbours.
Sharma’s family members have told police that their son did not know how to ride a bike. The police are investigating if Sharma was trying to learn how to ride a two-wheeler and his friend Shankaram, owner of the KTM Duke motorcycle, was helping him at the time of the accident.
“He (Sharma) had requested his parents several times to buy him a motorcycle. But the accident in which Sharma injured himself had terrified his parents so much they had even stopped him from sitting on a motorcycle. Sharma did not know how to ride a motorcycle,” said Manoj Kumar Choudhary, Sharma’s family friend and neighbour.
A second-year MBBS student at North Delhi Municipal Corporation Medical College and Hindu Rao Hospital, Sharma was sharing his hostel room with Shankaram, trainee doctor in the same hospital, and Ravinder.
His father, Shiv Shankar Sharma, is a teacher at a municipal school in south Delhi.
Sharma’s father said that his son was brilliant in studies, sports and yoga as well. “Among my four children, he was more hardworking and dedicated towards his studies and aim. When he cleared the medical entrance exams, I was happy and hoping a doctor in our family. But life had something else in store for us. I never allowed him to ride a motorcycle,” said the father.
Daya Shankar, a hostel friend of the two victims, said that riding bikes was a passion for Shankaram, who got the KTM Duke as a gift from his parents on his last birthday. Shankaram earlier had a Hero Splendor that he sold soon after getting the high-speed sports motorcycle.
Another hostel friend, who visited the Sushruta Trauma Centre after hearing about the accident, said that Shankaram often invited his friends to accompany him for joyrides on his bike.
“Riding bikes was Shankaram’s passion. Last evening (Thursday), Shankaram made a plan to visit the Signature Bridge on his motorcycle. He mentioned about his plan on our common Whatsapp group and invited everybody for the joyride. But when it didn’t work out, he asked his two roommates for the same on Friday morning. While Ravinder refused, Shankaram convinced Sharma for it and they left on his motorcycle around 8 am,” added the friend, who refused to share his name.
Shankaram’s family is originally hails from Gopalganj in Bihar. His uncle Avnesh Kumar, who lives in Delhi, said that many of his family members are doctors.
When he cleared the medical entrance exams, I was hoping that we have a doctor in our family. But life had something else in store for us. Two young men go on a joyride to Signature Bridge. They get on the bridge from the Ring Road side.
AROUND 8.30AM: Sharma uploads a photo as his Whatsapp status The bike is thrown off balance, it travels for about 15 metres and hits a concrete railing.
Satyavijay Shankaram, 23, a trainee doctor at Hindu Rao Hospital and medical college, leaves the hostel on his KTM Duke bike with his roommate, Chander Shekhar Sharma, 20, a second-year MBBS student of the same college, for a joyride on the newly opened Signature Bridge. The two ride on the bridge, take a U-turn and return towards Majnu Ka Tila. As they take a right turn on an elevated approach road, their bike hits a wire jutting out of a pole. The bike flungs down the bridge, throwing the duo 30-40 feet down the elevated loop. Both Shankaram and Sharma die almost instantly. The police found no helmets at the spot. A passerby calls the police. The two are rushed to Sushruta Trauma Centre where they are declared brought dead.