A Patiala House court on Thursday reserved its order on the bail plea of Gaganpreet Kaur, arrested in connection with the BMW accident at Dhaula Kuan that killed Navjot Singh, Deputy Secretary in the Finance Ministry.
The court examined CCTV footage of the incident produced by the Delhi Police and heard detailed arguments from the defence, prosecution, and complainant’s counsel.
Defence Argument
Appearing for Kaur, Advocate Pradeep Rana argued that the accused had no wrongful intent and, after the accident, immediately tried to arrange medical help. He pointed out that Kaur made calls to Venkateshwara Hospital and PCR before taking the injured to Nulife Hospital, where she arranged for her father to support treatment needs.
Rana questioned the 10-hour delay in lodging the FIR and submitted that Kaur was cooperating with the investigation, had no criminal intent, and was not a flight risk. “She has been in custody for 10 days. All evidence is already with the police,” he said, adding that the family itself was “traumatised victims” of the accident.
Prosecution’s Stand
Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, assisted by Additional PP Dishank Dhawan, strongly opposed the bail plea. He argued that the accused deliberately avoided taking the victims to the nearest hospitals, including AIIMS and the Army Base Hospital, which were closer to the crash site.
“The golden hour principle requires immediate treatment at the closest hospital. Instead, she took the injured to a hospital owned by her relatives,” Shrivastava said. He alleged that Kaur’s priority was to protect herself from legal consequences, not to save lives.
The prosecution also claimed possible evidence tampering and highlighted a witness statement that the accused asked him to head towards Azadpur instead of the nearest facility.
Complainant’s Counsel
Supporting the prosecution, Advocate Atul Kumar, appearing for the complainant, told the court that the victims were left unattended on a hospital stretcher for hours while the accused was admitted to the ICU. He emphasised that the victim herself requested to be taken to the nearest hospital, but was instead taken further away.
After perusing the CCTV footage, Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Ankit Garg directed both sides to file written submissions along with supporting evidence. The court also noted that BMW has been asked to provide a crash report to establish the vehicle’s speed at the time of the accident.
The order on bail will be pronounced after the court considers the submissions.
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