Left in mangled car for eight hours, Delhi couple die as no one stops to help

The family of a Delhi couple who died after being left trapped in their mangled car on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway last week has questioned what they describe as the apathy of both the authorities and the public, which they believe might have led to the two deaths.

Couple die inside car after double collision

Forty-two-year-old Lacchi Ram and 38-year-old Kusum Lata died last Tuesday (December 2) after their WagonR was struck twice within 22 minutes, with both drivers leaving the couple trapped and bleeding inside the vehicle.

Also Read: Five killed, one injured as Thar crashes into divider on Delhi–Gurugram expressway

Although numerous vehicles drove past the wreckage, no one stopped to help. The couple reportedly remained inside the crushed car for eight hours before their bodies were eventually discovered.

“How could anyone miss an entire mangled car with two people trapped and bleeding inside? It clearly means either extreme negligence or that all these patrols exist only on paper. We were told that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) patrol vehicles pass every hour. How did they not see the crushed car?” asked Nahar Singh, Ram’s maternal uncle.

The 62-year-old added that the family had been informed that the expressway stretch is monitored by both NHAI and local police units. “Where were the police patrol teams? They would have survived had help reached them in time,” he asked.

Left trapped in mangled car for eight hours

According to police who reviewed CCTV footage, the first collision occurred when a multi-axle dumper truck pushed the couple’s WagonR into the side lane.

The second collision, 22 minutes later, reportedly involved a speeding Maruti Ertiga whose driver reversed and fled. Neither driver stepped out to check on the couple, who appeared to have survived the initial impact.

But what followed was even more shocking. For nearly eight hours, the mangled vehicle sat by the roadside with its doors jammed and its occupants bleeding inside, while hundreds of vehicles passed by without stopping.

Also Read: Delhi: Two killed as car driven by teenager hits bicycle, ploughs into roadside hut

Although the second crash involving the white Maruti Ertiga occurred at 12.14 am, police did not receive the first alert until 7.38 am, when villagers walking along the expressway noticed the wreckage and the couple’s bodies.

Police patrol lapses questioned

Ram’s father, Devi Singh, broke down repeatedly as he spoke from the family’s village, Kot Purine Pura.

“This is not how they should have died. Even if they had been injured or disabled for life, we would have looked after them. But to die waiting for help that never arrived, how can the authorities be so irresponsible?” the 64-year-old said.

He added that he had kept calling their phones through the night. “At first the calls rang, then they went off. After 8 am the phone began ringing again, and a policeman answered. That is how we learnt they had died,” he further said.

Also Read: Law student rams car into two-wheelers in Vadodara; one killed, 4 injured

Ram’s cousin, Deepak Singh, said the Ertiga driver could have saved them. “My sister-in-law had no visible injuries. She might have survived with timely help. Ram had severe head injuries and broken legs, but even then, if someone had stopped…” he said, his voice trailing off.