“The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the Nuh Police is going through CCTV footage in a bid to ascertain who was behind the wheel that day,” a police official told The Quint on Tuesday, 29 August, regarding the Rolls-Royce car crash involving Kuber Group Director Vikas Malu that took place on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway last week.
On 22 August, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, reportedly speeding at 230 kmph, rammed into an oil tank truck near Umri village in Haryana’s Nuh, killing the truck driver and his helper, and injuring the three occupants of the luxury car, including Malu.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered in the matter on the same day at Nagina Police Station in Haryana's Nuh under Sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (endangering human life and safety), and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A purported video of the fatal crash – which has been circulated widely on social media – shows the luxury car speeding before it loses control and hits the oil tank truck in the middle lane. While Malu’s Rolls-Royce Phantom immediately caught in flames, the truck was overturned.
According to the FIR accessed by The Quint, the speeding luxury car allegedly hit the front tyre of the oil tank truck, which led to the truck driver losing control of the vehicle.
'Malu, 2 Others Sat in Another Car and Left': Complainant in FIR
The FIR was registered based on the statement of Muneel Yadav, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who was allegedly accompanying the oil tank truck in his car on the highway.
“I was accompanying my plant’s diesel tanker on the Delhi-Mumbai highway. It was around 11:30 am when a speeding Rolls-Royce Phantom came and rammed into the front tyre of the truck. As a result, the driver lost control and the truck overturned,” alleged Muneel, who works with Apco Infratech Pvt Ltd.
He claimed that the three occupants of the Rolls-Royce managed to climb out of the car before it caught fire. “Soon after, another car arrived and the three left towards Delhi,” Muneel stated in the FIR.
Although Muneel helped the truck driver Rampreet and his assistant Kuldeep out of the overturned vehicle and took them to a government medical college in Nalhar, the doctor stated that the two had succumbed to their injuries, he alleged.
While Rampreet was a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep hailed from Ayodhya. Gautam Kumar from Nuh was also travelling with the two others in the truck, Muneel claimed. However, the FIR has no mention of what happened to Kumar.
'Driver Was Behind the Wheel': Malu's Lawyer
The Nuh Police had on Friday, 25 August, served a notice to Kuber Group‘s Malu to join the investigation of the accident after he was discharged from the Gurugram hospital, where he is currently undergoing treatment.
Malu’s counsel RK Thakur alleged to The Hindustan Times that his client was in the rear seat of the Rolls-Royce while his driver Tasbir was behind the wheel.
“Malu is to undergo surgery for elbow dislocation. He has also suffered injuries to his lungs. He is recovering at the hospital and is in no state to join the investigation at present. His driver Tasbir was driving the Rolls Royce and Malu was in the rear seat along with a woman passenger when the accident happened,” Thakur told the newspaper.
He added that his client's car was in a convoy with four other vehicles and that they were headed to Jaipur for a family function.
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