Dhaula Kuan BMW Crash: Accused Gagan Preet Kaur Appears Before Delhi Court after Summons

Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Ankit Garg recorded her appearance and directed that a copy of the charge sheet be supplied to the accused in compliance with procedural requirements.

The matter has now been listed for scrutiny of documents on February 20.

The summons had been issued on January 23, after the court took cognisance of the offences alleged in the charge sheet. Advocate Gagan Bhatnagar appeared on behalf of Gagan Preet Kaur.

The Delhi Police have invoked Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), dealing with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, along with Sections 281, 125(b) and 238(a) BNS. According to the prosecution, the offence of culpable homicide has been attracted on account of the accused’s alleged deliberate conduct following the accident, particularly the delay in providing timely medical assistance to the victim.

While taking cognisance, JMFC Garg noted that the material on record disclosed a prima facie case. “I have perused the charge sheet and the documents annexed with the charge sheet. It prima facie discloses commission of offence. I take cognisance of the offence. Let summons be issued to the accused for the next date of hearing,” the court had observed.

As per the charge sheet, the accident occurred due to the fault of the accused, who was driving the BMW. The police have alleged that instead of taking the injured victim to the nearest trauma-capable hospitals, such as the Army Base Hospital or AIIMS Trauma Centre located 10–15 minutes away, the accused chose to take him to Nulife Hospital in GTB Nagar, approximately 20 kilometres from the accident site. The travel time to Nulife Hospital was around 23 minutes.

The police claim that this delay resulted in the loss of the “golden hour” critical for trauma care. The charge sheet states that, as per the post-mortem report, the victim’s survival time was at least 15 minutes and that timely medical intervention could have saved his life.

Nulife Hospital has been described in the charge sheet as a small, two-storey nursing home with limited medical facilities. The police have alleged that the accused has distant family links with the hospital, which influenced the decision to take the victim there.

The prosecution has further stated that an ambulance with a paramedic reached the accident spot within minutes, but the accused refused to avail of ambulance services. Statements of the ambulance driver and assistant have been recorded under Section 180 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), with the police asserting that there was no fault on the part of the ambulance staff. The statement of a DTC bus driver present at the scene is also part of the record.

Earlier, in a detailed 400-page chargesheet filed in December, the police alleged that Makkad deliberately delayed providing critical medical assistance to Singh. The final report stated that instead of taking the injured to nearby facilities such as the Delhi Cantonment Hospital or the AIIMS Trauma Centre, which were just 10–15 minutes away, the accused drove the victims to Nulife Hospital in GTB Nagar, nearly 20 km from the accident site. Describing Nulife Hospital as a small nursing home with limited facilities, the chargesheet alleged that the accused’s actions resulted in the “wastage of the golden hour of trauma care,” which could have been vital in saving the victim’s life.