A 38-year-old woman from Gurugram was arrested on Monday, a day after her BMW fatally hit Finance Ministry Deputy Secretary Navjot Singh, killing him and critically injuring his wife, Sandeep Kaur, in southwest Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan, police said.

The woman has been identified as Gaganpreet Makkar, a resident of Gurugram in Haryana. She was travelling with her husband, two kids, and a maid when the accident took place.

The car hit the Finance Ministry official’s bike at Dhaula Kuan but the victims were taken to a hospital 20 km away in GTB Nagar.

On asking particularly why she did not take them to a nearby hospital, Gaganpreet stated that she was in panic, and she knew only that hospital as her kids were admitted there during Covid, police said.

However, a senior police officer said that they are verifying whether Gaganpreet’s father knows the director of the hospital or has any connection with it.

Sandeep Kaur (50), a resident of Pratap Nagar in west Delhi, said in her statement to police that her husband was posted as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. They both had gone to Bangla Sahib Gurudwara and were returning home after having their lunch in RK Puram when the incident took place.

Father remembered his son waving off last time

Navjot’s father, who is retired from the Indian Air Force, stated that when the incident took place in Dhaula Kuan, why the accused took his son and daughter-in-law to a hospital in GTB Nagar.

“There were RR Hospital and RML hospital, but they went to around 20 kilometres away. There were no major facilities in that hospital,” he alleged.

“It is basic that when an accident takes place, the victims are generally taken to a nearby hospital for first aid. Here, they took them to a far one. They also got admitted to the hospital. Later, we took my daughter-in-law to Venkateshwar hospital for further treatment. This is a tragedy,” the father added.

“He was very intelligent. He stood first in B.Sc and received a national scholarship in M.Sc. Later, he was selected in the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). Gradually, he became the deputy secretary. Last week, he completed his 10 days of training. He went to Shillong in Meghalaya for four days of field training and was here for the remaining six days.”

“My wife and I were on the terrace when we saw him going to Gurudwara and waved our hands. He met with the accident when returning home,” the father stated.

Mohammad Gulfam, who drives a loading van, stated that he was coming from Dhaula Kuan when the incident took place. He alleged that the people nearby were not helping, but shooting videos.

“I saw that the vehicle turned after it collided with a divider. When I went ahead, I saw some people lying on the road. I did not wait for the ambulance and immediately took the victim from the spot. Meanwhile, a woman came and sat inside my car who asked to take the van towards Azadpur. Later, I took them to a hospital at GTB Nagar. Navjot died there and his wife also received several injuries. I have no idea how the accident took place since there were a couple of vehicles between my car and the offending car. I just saw the vehicle when it turned,” Gulfam said.

He also stated that he was not aware that the woman who sat in the front seat was the driver of the offending vehicle.