The father of Siddhesh Agarwal, the sole survivor of the horrific Dehradun Innova accident that claimed six lives, came forward with a public appeal against spreading rumours about the unfortunate incident.
The public should refrain from spreading half-truths and unverified rumours about the circumstances that led to the accident. It is time for the society to show some compassion towards the families who have lost six kids, Agarwal Senior told the press.
Six students were killed and another was seriously injured when the Innova they were travelling crashed into a truck in the early hours of Tuesday. The collision, which reduced the car to a mangled wreck, occurred around 1.30 am at Dehradun's ONGC Chowk. The car rammed into the truck from behind and the six died on the spot. The deceased were identified as Kunal Kukreja (23), Atul Agrawal (24), Rishabh Jain (24), Navya Goel (23), Kamakshi (20), and Guneet (19).
Siddhesh Agarwal's father was forced to make the request before the media after several theories and stories were being spread about the circumstances that led to the accident at Dehradun's ONGC Chowk in the early hours of Tuesday. The Dehradun police have not confirmed any of these rumors as of Friday evening.
The BMW race: One of the claims that went viral on the Internet claimed that the youngsters engaged a BMW car in a late-night race which ultimately led to the accident. After the luxury car overtook their Innova, "the ego of the youngsters were hurt", which led to a high-speed pursuit. If not for this development, the accident wouldn't have happened, the social media theory claimed.
However, the cops have denied this story on record, saying that the allegation is baseless.
CCTV footage released by the police department showed the ill-feted Innova car at around 1:16 am -- less than half an hour before the accident. The visuals from areas including Rajput Road, Ballupur and Sahranpur Chowk among other areas showed the Innova was not speeding beyond the permitted limit. It was a short while before the accident that the vehicle reached dangerous speed limits, the police confirmed.
'Open sunroof': A Dehradun-based journalist told THE WEEK that there is no confirmation on the fact the youngsters had kept their heads out through the vehicle's sunroof during the time of the accident. The rumour stemmed from the fact that two of the victims were thrown out of road and decapitated after the crash. The injuries are believed to have caused due to the impact of the accident and not because they leaned out.
Parents bringing kids to the accident spot: Another theory doing rounds said that teenagers and college students were being taken to the accident spot by their parents to show them what speeding can cause. In an effort to instill fear regarding the consequences of overspeeding, the youngsters were shown the heartbreaking scenes at the ONGC Chowk, some Hindi portals claimed. According to a Dehradun-based journalist, this claim is also absurd.
Viral video: A video that went viral on the internet showed a group of youngsters having booze at an apartment. Those sharing the video claimed it was the victims, who were drunk ahead of the journey. Drunken driving was the cause of the accident, some of these users claimed. The police are yet to confirm the cause of the accident and have not said anything about the victims including the driver having consumed alcohol ahead of the accident. Also, no official source have confirmed the authenticity of the party video yet.