Two doctors working at Maharishi Valmiki Hospital in Bawana died after their Scooty rammed into a stationary trailer truck on Wednesday night. Chief Medical Officer Rajesh Rajput (34) and Junior Resident Gufran (30), who worked at the hospital’s casualty ward, were spotted lying unconscious by a passerby, identified as Rajbir Singh, who made a PCR call at 9.55 pm. A PCR van took them to Maharishi Valmiki Hospital, where Gufran was declared brought dead. Rajput was taken to Fortis Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
“We tried to revive Rajput and then sent him to Fortis. It is such a tragedy; they were good doctors,” said Medical Superintendent Dr Beena. Their bodies were shifted to the mortuary at B R Ambedkar hospital, where a post-mortem was conducted. The bodies were later handed over to their families. Police have traced the owner of the trailer truck and are on the lookout for the driver.
An officer familiar with the investigation said the doctors “were not at fault as the driver had parked the truck on the wrong side of the road and did not give any indicator signalling that the vehicle was parked”. Rajput’s family told The Indian Express that they did not know when he left the house. His wife was not aware when he left with Gufran.
“I told his wife, Rubi, that her husband had died in the accident. She kept telling me he never left home. She was in shock. They got married two years ago. We still don’t know why he left the house,” said Bhikam Singh, Rajput ‘s uncle.
Rajput, who hailed from Gwalior, completed his medical education from Russia and had been working at the hospital for the past three years. Gufran, who hails from Bihar, had been working at the hospital for the past one week. “Gufran had earlier worked at the hospital and left. He rejoined just a week ago. Both of them stayed at the staff quarters on campus,” said Dr Pankaj, a colleague.
Pankaj said the two had left to eat some snacks near Bengali Chowk in Bawana’s Sector 3. Police said it is difficult to establish the sequence of events as there are no eyewitnesses . They are also probing the “possibility of a hit-and-run,” an officer said.“There has been damage to the rear part of the truck. The doctor driving the Scooty must have lost balance and rammed into it,” the officer said.
A senior officer said both doctors were wearing helmets. “But the impact of the crash must have killed them,” said the officer from Bawana police station.
“One of them had head injuries while the other suffered internal bleeding. They were left bleeding in a poorly lit street and we received the PCR much later. It took a lot of time to get them to the hospital,” said an officer.