Moved to cities for better life, now UP village mourns their deaths in Gurgaon crash

Bijender Singh, a construction laborer from the village of Sarbhanna in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, relocated to Gurugram with his son Ram Kumar last year. The father-son duo worked tirelessly to make ends meet. Tragedy struck on Thursday when they, along with two others, lost their lives in a fatal accident on the Dwarka Expressway.

Bijender, 58, his cousin Pappu Singh, 55, and contractor Satish Chand, 43, were killed after being struck by a speeding car driven by a third-year economics student, Vedant Khanna, from St Stephen's College. The student, Vedant, also sustained severe injuries and is currently in a critical condition at a private hospital. Bijender's cousin, Gautam Kumar, revealed that after his wife's passing last year, Bijender's sole focus was ensuring Ram's well-being and financial security.

Now, instead of planning for his son's wedding, the family finds themselves in dire straits, borrowing money to keep Ram alive in the ICU. The accident occurred around 1.50 am to 2.30 am on Thursday near Ram Chowk, along the Dwarka Expressway's Gurugram-bound surface corridor. An FIR was registered at the Bajghera police station, and the blood samples of the accused are awaited to confirm if he was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

The impact of the collision was devastating, hurling the workers across the asphalt and ultimately leading to the deaths of Bijender, Pappu Singh, and Satish Chand. Ram Kumar remains in intensive care on a ventilator. The loss of Satish Chand, who had moved to Delhi eight years ago, has left his wife, Dolly Devi, and four children in a vulnerable position.

Satish, who helped Pappu get a job, had been instrumental in building a wedding fund for his 18-year-old daughter. Now, with Satish gone, the family faces an uncertain future, with the possibility of returning to their village and pulling their children out of school.