WOMAN KILLED AS PONTY NEPHEW’S SUV HITS AUTO

NEW DELHI : A Bentley SUV allegedly driven by the nephew of liquor baron Ponty Chadha crashed into an auto-rickshaw in Chanakyapuri on Monday afternoon, killing a woman from Turkmenistan who was one of four occupants in the three-wheeler.

Witnesses said the Bentley Bentayga was speeding on Vinay Marg when it hit the autorickshaw, causing it to flip over and fling its occupants onto the road. Asees Singh Chadha, who was behind the wheel, was caught and assaulted by some passersby before being handed over to police, they added.

Police said the passengers in the auto-rickshaw were three women from Turkmenistan — Alma Gul Atayeba (33), Gulshat Alijanova (51) and Gulia Yyam (55). The driver of the threewheeler was identified as Raghubir Singh of south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar. Alijanova succumbed to her injuries while other three are in a critical state at the AIIMS, police said. Asees, 19, is the nephew of Ponty Chadha, a liquor magnate who was killed by his brother in a shootout in 2012 when the two siblings and their bodyguards opened fire at each other.

The incident was the result of a business rivalry between the brothers.

Anees is the son of a third brother, Rajender Singh Chadha.

“A call was received at 1.45pm reporting that a car has rammed a three-wheeler and then hit a pole on the footpath at Vinay Marg,” said deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma.

According to Verma, Asees was driving towards his home in Chhatarpur when the accident took place. “Asees’s medical examination confirmed that he was not drunk. We found a valid driving licence from him. He has been arrested and a case of rash and negligent driving and for culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against him,” Verma added.

At the time of the crash, Asees was accompanied by a team from Punjab Police assigned as the family’s personal security.

Calls and text messages sent to Asees’s father Rajender Singh Chadha were not responded to.

Police are verifying why the women were in India and are checking footage from surveillance cameras nearby to ascertain that no other vehicle was involved.