DU achiever crushed to death near college

NEW DELHI: A DU topper and state-level athlete met a tragic end on Monday afternoon, when she was mowed down by a speeding car while crossing the road to get to a Metro station after attending classes at Kamla Nehru College in south Delhi.

The errant motorist, a 50-year-old woman driving a Volkswagen Polo, was later arrested from her Jangpura residence.

The victim, 21-year-old Deepti Yash, was declared dead on arrival at AIIMS trauma centre. Doctors said she had died due to excessive blood loss.

Deepti was a second-year geography student and had topped the university in her last exam, her family said. They said Deepti had represented Delhi in the junior national championships in three games ? kabaddi, shot put and chess. She had also been awarded a certificate of excellence from the union HRD minister for being a high scorer in her CBSE examinations, they added.

Deepti was on her way home in Mehrauli and was crossing the August Kranti Marg around 1.30pm when the silver Volkswagen car came speeding towards her from the Lajpat Nagar side and hit her, police said, quoting witnesses.

The driver of the car then got out to check on the girl and fled in panic leaving her car behind as a crowd began to gather at the spot. A man named Pankaj Dheer called up the cops.

Police said the driver, later indentified as Nalini Agarwal, had even left her mobile phone in the car. She was arrested a few hours later. Police have registered a case of rash and negligent driving under section 279 IPC and causing death due to negligence against her.

Deepti’s father D K Shastri, who works in an office in Jhandewalan, said he got a call from the police about the accident. “The doctors at the trauma centre said Deepti was still breathing when she was brought to the hospital but died due to excessive bleeding,” said Shastri.

The family said Deepti had finished her last class at 1.15pm and got a call from her mother asking her to reach home early as she had to submit a form for an examination.

“She was in a hurry to get to the Metro station and tried to cross the road from near the college gate, which might have led to the accident,” her father said.

“She always wanted to be an IPS officer and was preparing for it,” said Dipesh, her brother who himself is a taekwondo player. “I was her inspiration for taking up sports. Like me, she too took up geography as her major subject in college,” he said.

The girl’s body was sent for a postmortem on Monday evening and handed over to the family on Tuesday.