A businessman died while two others were injured in a road accident in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur on Monday (June 2, 2025). The MUV they were travelling in crashed into a road divider when the driver opened the door in a bid to spit out gutkha and lost control of the vehicle, said the police.
The deceased, Jackie Gehi, 31, a cloth merchant from Chakarbhatha area, and two of his friends Akash Chandani and Pankaj Chhabra were out on a joyride when the accident happened on the Raipur-Bilaspur Highway around 1:30 a.m.
Uttam Sahu, the SHO of the Chakarbhata Police Station, said that Mr. Chandani, who was driving the vehicle, opened the door to spit out gutkha and since the vehicle was at a high speed, that the police suspect was around 120 kmph, he lost control and hit the divider breaking its railings. The vehicle then flipped over during which the other doors also opened. Gehi, who was in the back passenger seat, was flung out and hit a pole causing fatal injuries.
“We found the vehicle nearly 100 metres from the spot of the impact. The car then went on to hit two parked vehicles, another car and a pick up van,” he said. A CCTV footage of the accident has also emerged.
Mr. Sahu added that Mr. Chandani and Mr. Chhabra also sustained injuries but their injuries weren’t serious in nature. Gehi was taken to Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences where he was declared dead while the two others went to a private hospital on their own from where they were discharged subsequently.
Investigators are now probing if the occupants of the vehicle were inebriated. “We have written to the private hospital for a report on whether Mr. Chandani and Mr. Chhabra were drunk,” he said.
Mr. Sahu said that the body was handed over to Gehi’s family after a post mortem on Tuesday. “We are awaiting a memo from the hospital based on which we will file an FIR of causing death by negligence against Chandani,” he said on Wednesday (June 4, 2025).
Published – June 04, 2025 03:23 pm IST
