Family of doc killed in mishap blames Smriti

AGRA: Family members of a doctor killed in a road accident allegedly involving Union minister Smriti Irani’s motorcade said on Monday the BJP leader didn’t help the victim despite their begging with “folded hands”.

But local police said the vehicle that hit Dr Ramesh Nagar’s motorcycle was not part of the human resource development minister’s entourage – a claim repeated by Irani’s office.

Nagar was killed on Saturday night when his motorcycle was hit by a vehicle — a Honda City sedan allegedly part of the minister’s entourage — on the Yamuna Expressway. His 12-year-old daughter and nineyear-old nephew, riding pillion, were also injured.

“She chose not to pay heed to our pleas and sat in her car before moving away. Had she (Irani) helped us, my father would have been alive today,” Nagar’s daughter, Sandhili Nagar, told HT.

The alle gations sparked a social media stor m with hundreds of users accusing the minister of insensitivity — the latest controversy to hit Irani, who the Opposition accuse of trying to saffronise education and under mine caste-based discrimination that may have led to scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide.

In a series of tweets after the incident, Irani said she “tried to help” people injured in the accident, which occurred when she was returning to Delhi from Vrindavan after attending a conclave of the BJP’s young wing.

She (Irani) chose not to pay heed to our pleas and sat in her car before moving away. Had she helped us, my father would have been alive.

SANDHILI NAGAR, victim’s daughter Private vehicle, which allegedly hit the biker (Dr Ramesh Nagar), who later on died has nothing to do with the HRD minister’s cavalcade.

SMRITI IRANI’S MINISTRY

“There was pile up of vehicles due to an accident on the expressway. Unfortunately, the police vehicle before mine and my car also crashed….tried to help injured who were lying on the road for quite some time and ensured they reach hospital. Pray for their safety,” she tweeted. But Nagar’s son, Abhishek Nagar, said Irani didn’t offer any help to the family. “My sister literally pleaded with folded hands to Smriti Irani for help, but she did not stop,” he added.

Nagar’s daughter said the vehicle that hit her father was from the minister’s cavalcade. Another car hit Nagar soon after, she said. “My father attempted to get up but was struck again. He did not rise after that.” Abhishek Nagar filed an FIR, where he said a rashly driven Honda City in the HRD minister’s cavalcade hit his father’s motorcycle.

But police said the doctor’s motorcycle was struck by the Honda City – not part of Irani’s motorcade -- which was then hit by two cars and an ambulance.

The minister’s cavalcade reached the spot after this initial mishap and a pilot car rammed into the last vehicle of the pileup, police added.

“The Honda City involved in accident with the motorcycle of a doctor was not from the minister’s cavalcade that reached the spot a little while after the accident,” the local police maintained. The minister’s office said the vehicle that hit Nagar wasn’t a part of Irani cavalcade and that she asked Mathura’s senior superintendent of police to arrange an ambulance “immediately”.

Superintendent of police (Mathura rural) Arun Kumar Singh said the Honda City was registered to Dimple, the daughter of Man Arora, a resident of Delhi. “The driver, believed to be a woman, fled from the spot,” he said.