Delhi woman killed, daughter's eye damaged in crash with SUV being driven by ‘drunk’ woman

In yet another drunken driving case, a 38-year-old woman identified as Poonam Sardana was killed and her 13-year-old daughter Chetanya sustained serious injuries after their four-wheeler was hit by a speeding vehicle, which was allegedly driven by a 22-year-old heavily drunk woman, in west Delhi's Punjabi Bagh area.

The police said Chetanya’s one eye was completely damaged in the accident took place on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Doctors, however, transplanted Poonam's cornea to replace the damaged one.

According to the police, the incident took place around 11pm when two brothers Sudhir Sardana and Vimal Sardana, along with their wives and children, were returning home after visiting a temple in Chhatarpur. Sudhir was driving Mahindra Quanto car towards their house in Adarsh Nagar when a vehicle bearing an Uttar Pradesh registration number lost control, jumped over the road divider and rammed their car.

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The police added the erring vehicle, S-Cross, was being driven by Shivani Malik. She was accompanied by three of her friends, who allegedly had alcoholic drinks at Connaught Place, and were driving towards Gurgaon.

"It is suspected that Shivani was driving at a high speed. She lost control of the vehicle, and hit the divider before crossing over to the other lane and hitting Sardana's car from the rear-end," the police said.

“Locals and witnesses said that the speed of the car approaching from opposite direction, a Maruti S-Cross, was so high that it went up in the air after hitting the divider and after hitting the Quanto, it turned turtle on another car that was passing by. Passersby stopped and helped the occupants of the cars get out. A PCR (police control room) call was then made and the police as informed,” said a police officer.

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Malik, a resident of Ghaziabad, was allegedly inebriated and was on her way to Gurugram Club along with friends, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Monika Bhardwaj said.

The accused woman works in a salon in Noida. She was arrested and a case was registered against her, officials said.

Hindustan Times quoting the Delhi traffic police data reported that at least 33,000 people were caught driving in an inebriated state on the national capital roads this year, around 27% higher than last year. Data shows that an upward trend of drink-driving cases has been observed in the last few years.

(With PTI inputs)