Several theories on the circumstances that led to the horrific Innova-container truck accident in Dehradun's ONGC Chowk in the early hours of Tuesday are viral on the internet. The crash that claimed the lives of six students travelling in the Innova took the internet by storm after a graphic video from the blood-soaked accident spot went viral on the internet.
The Dehradun Police have clarified that many claims doing rounds on the internet are baseless. While the cops confirmed that the friends had earlier come together at the house of Siddhesh Agarwal, the sole survivor of the crash, they haven't established whether alcohol was served at his house.
Another theory claimed that their Innova crashed into the truck while engaging a BMW car in a race. After the luxury car overtook their Innova, the youngsters began a high-speed pursuit which ultimately caused the accident, some claimed. According to the Dehradun Police, there is no evidence to substantiate this claim. They also released CCTV footage which showed the ill-fated Innova car at around 1:16 am -- less than half an hour before the accident. The visuals were captured from areas including Rajput Road, Ballupur and Sahranpur Chowk.
ONGC Chowk's CCTV cameras
The Innova was not speeding beyond the permitted limit in any of these videos. It was a short while before the accident that the vehicle reached dangerous speed limits, the police thus confirmed.
But then why wasn't the accident or the vehicles involved in it moments before the collision caught on cameras at ONGC Chowk? Did the victims meet their unfortunate fate at a blind spot in the region? No.
The overspeeding Innova's final minutes before crashing into the truck were not recorded as CCTV cameras in ad around ONGC Chowk remain offline.
According to the Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL), 134 of the 536 road cameras in the city, remain non-operational. Those declared dysfunctional include the one near the accident spot, Times Of India (TOI) said in a report. The cameras went offline following a ransomware attack, the daily added.
Dehradun car accident
Six students were killed and another was seriously injured when their Innova crashed into a container truck in the early hours of Tuesday in Dehradun. The collision, which reduced the car to a mangled wreck, occurred around 1.30 am at Dehradun's ONGC Chowk.
The deceased students were identified as Kunal Kukreja (23), Atul Agrawal (24), Rishabh Jain (24), Navya Goel (23), Kamakshi (20), and Guneet (19). All of them were from Uttarakhand's Dehradun except Kukreja who hails from Himachal Pradesh.