- Pedestrian died and another critically injured after Thar hit them in New Delhi enclave
- The 26-year-old driver was arrested and the SUV seized with liquor bottles found inside
- Driver claimed to have dozed off; police investigating possible intoxication
A pedestrian has died and another is battling death after a speeding Thar hit them in New Delhi's high-security diplomatic enclave, Chanakyapuri, this morning.
The accident occurred just about two kilometres from Rashtrapati Bhavan, but the pedestrian's body lay on the road in the high-security area for hours before police arrived and took it away. The injured person has been hospitalised.
Police have arrested the 26-year-old driver and seized the SUV. According to sources, liquor bottles have been recovered from the car and forensic teams are at work to find more clues. The driver has told the cops that the car belongs to his friend and he had borrowed it. He has also said that he dozed off and lost control of the vehicle, leading to the accident, but police are checking if he was drunk.
Visuals showed that the five-door Mahindra Thar Roxx has suffered damage on its left front side. The car is registered in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad.
The accident has again put the spotlight on the popular SUV. Launched in 2010, the Mahindra Thar became a huge hit, thanks to its commanding look and off-roading capabilities. The Indian automobile manufacturer later launched a five-door version named Thar Roxx, with prices starting at Rs 13 lakh and going up to Rs 23 lakh.
The SUV is a social media sensation, often featuring in reels and short videos. But cases of rash driving, sometimes to shoot reels, have brought Thar in the news for the wrong reasons. Last week, a video of a young woman sitting on the roof of a moving Thar in Gurugram and recording herself went viral. The video raised questions about road safety and showed how people were risking their and others' safety to shoot reels.
Last month, a chilling video from Jammu showed a Thar hitting a scooter. The driver then reverses the SUV to run over the scooterist, leading to serious injuries.
