New Delhi: In a tragic turn of events on Tuesday morning, Union Minister for Rural Development Gopinath Munde died of multiple internal injuries after his car was hit by another vehicle in Delhi. The 64-year-old Munde, who is survived by his wife and three daughters, was going to the Delhi airport to catch a flight to Mumbai when a Tata Indica car smashed into his Maruti SX4 at around 6:20 AM at Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road roundabout.
Munde, who was accompanied by his Assistant Personal Secretary Surendra Nair and driver Virendra Kumar in the car, did not stop on the spot and headed straight to the hospital. Nair later told police that the Union Minister had asked for water after the accident and had asked them to be taken to the hospital before he lost consciousness.
He was immediately rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre after the accident where the doctors found no breathing, no pulse and no cardiac function. They tried to revive the Union Minister but after 50 minutes at around 7:20 AM he was declared dead.
"The minister has died of multiple internal injuries. No external wound was found on his body. When he was brought to Trauma Centre, his pulse and heart beat were not working," AIIMS spokesperson Dr Amit Gupta said after a team of doctors conducted a post-mortem on his body.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Munde suffered cervical fractures and oxygen to the brain and lungs may have been cut off following the injuries. Vardhan said Munde's liver had tear at 2-3 places and there was one-and-half litre of blood in his abdomen because of the injury.
"The major thing that cost him very heavily was a fracture of the cervical spines C1 and C2. When you have fracture at C1 and C2, the blood supply at the brain gets cut off because the vertebral artery gets damaged immediately," he said.
His body was then taken to the BJP headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders and party workers, and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi paid their respects to the departed leader.
The national flag will be flown at half mast in Delhi, state capitals and Union Territories on Tuesday as a mark of respect to Munde.
Munde, very popular leader in Maharashtra, had a victory rally scheduled in Beed and Parali, his home town. He had won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Beed constituency and became the Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation.
Gopinath Munde was the brother-in-law of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan. He had married Mahajan's younger sister. After Mahajan's death, Munde was the guardian of the Mahajan family.
He was the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra from 1995-1999 and had been the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 1992-1995. In 2009, he was elected as the BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.
His body was taken by a special IAF plane to Mumbai and will be kept at his residence for people to come and pay their respects. His last rites will take place at Parali on Tuesday. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Prakash Javadekar will be attending the funeral.
The Indica driver Gurvinder Singh was arrested and released on bail. He has been been booked under IPC Sections 279 and 304(A) at Tughlak Road Police Station. Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi said Singh was arrested after prima facie he was found at fault of jumping the red light and over speeding.
According to police officials Munde's car was going from Prithviraj Road and was crossing the intersection to go on Safdarjung Road. The Indica car came from Aurobindo Marg at a high speed and hit Munde's car from the left side where the Union Minister was sitting.
"Indica's bonnet and bumper were totally damaged due to the impact. The car skid for 31 feet from the point of impact, marks of which are there on the road. This prima facie suggests that the car was being driven at a high speed," said Tyagi.
Delhi Police said the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Cell were investigating whether there was any conspiracy angle behind the accident.
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