New Delhi: As 14-year-old Abhav Bhatia and his 20-year-old cousin Yagya drove back home on a bike after watching the Indian Premier League match between Delhi and Bengaluru Monday night, Abhav said to his father Sumit Bhatia on the phone, “I will come home in 30 minutes.”
The father had barely told them to “drive carefully” when he heard a loud crash.
“He could not understand what had happened. It was a loud bang, Sumit kept saying ‘hello-hello’, but received no reply,” a relative told ThePrint from outside the Parliament Street Police Station.
The cousins were killed in a suspected hit-and-run accident in central Delhi. Abhav was a school-going boy. Yagya was a resident of Ashok Nagar studying for a bachelor’s degree in science.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma said that an emergency call was received around Monday night regarding a fatal accident near Mahadev Road T-point on Ashoka Road opposite Punjab National Bank Complex.
The police said the accident took place between a motorcycle and another goods carrier. They said, they found two male persons lying unconscious on the road. They were then rushed to the hospital, where they were declared brought dead.
The police said that a case has been registered on the statement of one of the eyewitnesses. “The offending vehicle has been identified, and efforts are on to apprehend the driver of the offending vehicle,” the DCP added.
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‘Aspiring cricketers’
The family on Tuesday said that both Abhav and Yagya were aspiring cricketers since childhood, and the duo would await IPL season, especially, because they could get to see cricket matches in Delhi.
“The two were super excited for the match, because it was Delhi Capitals playing… the two have played cricket for as long as they could remember… ” said the relative.
Yagya, the family said, was trained under cricketer Virat Kohli’s coach Rajkumar Sharma. “He would also do net practice with Delhi Capitals. That was his favourite team. The other one, Abhav, was still in school, but he was exactly like his elder brother Yagya. He, too, would participate in all cricket matches…”
On Monday night, after the duo watched the match, Abhav, sitting pillion, called his father around 10.27 pm.
“He told Sumit he will return in 30 minutes, and Sumit told them to drive carefully…and within minutes, he heard a loud bang. He could not understand what had happened…he kept saying ‘hello-hello,’ and nobody responded…”
Then Sumit called Abhav again, when a passerby picked up the call. “Your children are hurt,” he told Sumit. In panic now, Sumit kept dialling again and again. Finally, the police contacted Sumit, and told him to come to the police station.
The relative said, “Both Abhav and Yagya had serious head injuries, but the bike has minor damage. We have told the police to show the CCTV footage, so we can understand the gravity of the accident… we want clarity on what had happened…”
The district crime team was called at the spot, and forensic examination of the spot was conducted. The bodies of the two were shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Footage from surveillance cameras around the accident spot is being examined, and people being questioned.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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