3 Delhi police cops killed in road mishap on Badrinath Highway

DEHRADUN: Four persons, including three Delhi police cops, were killed after the vehicle they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a 500-meters deep gorge near Tota ghati, about 24km before Devprayag, on Badrinath National Highway on Saturday late night.
The accident took place between Byasi and Devprayag around 11:15pm on Saturday when the four were heading to Badrinath and the driver reportedly lost control over the vehicle, as per police officials.
Giving further details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tehri NS Napalchiyal told TOI, “The accident took place late Saturday night. We received information around 11:30 pm and police team along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel were immediately sent to initiate relief and rescue operations. All four were found dead and their bodies.”
The victims were identified as Vijendra Nagar (56), who was an additional sub-inspector (ASP) in Delhi police, Yogesh Prasad Gaur (45), who was serving as head constable and Arvind Kumar (39), who was a constable in Delhi police. The fourth victim Rishipal Chandel was a private person.
“We were able to ascertain their identities on the basis of identity cards recovered from their clothes. Then we informed their family members about the mishap and they reached Tehri on Sunday afternoon,” said Vinod Kumar Rana, in charge of Devprayag police station.
The bodies of the deceased persons were taken to Government hospital in Narendra Nagar for post-mortem, a police official said.
Moreover, the family members of victims told police officials that the four had left Delhi for Haridwar on Saturday morning. “They reached Haridwar on Saturday evening and they made a spontaneous plan to leave for Badrinath on the same day. While going to Badrinath they met with an accident,” said SP Tehri.
In another road accident on Sunday, a utility vehicle fell into a ditch in Kund area of Ukimath tehsil in Rudraprayag district. However, no casualty was reported in the road mishap. “The accident occurred around 10:30am on Sunday but police teams did not find anyone from the spot. It seems that there was only driver in the vehicle he might have fled from the scene,” said Ashish Semwal, district disaster management officer of Rudraprayag.