Khan Market shocked and horrified by act of road rage

NEW DELHI - The shopkeepers looked shocked out of their wits, the usually cheery visitors wore a grim look and the tension was palpable as the upsclale Khan Market witnessed a horrifying act of road rage Tuesday, resulting in a man losing his life.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rajiv Jolly, a manager at Amici restaurant in Khan Market, was driving in a silver Hyundai i10 car which slightly grazed the silver Ford Ikon being driven by Vikas Agarwal, a pilot with Jet Airways.

According to witnesses, Jolly was driving out of the market and Agarwal was entering the market when the latter’s car grazed his Hyundai.

An angry Jolly alighted and entered into an argument with Agarwal. He grabbed Agarwal’s collar while he was still seated inside the car and slapped him.

Agarwal tried to escape but Jolly hung on to the car’s window. The pilot continued to move ahead and Jolly came under the wheels and was crushed to death, according to a police officer.

Police personnel had swarmed the posh market, barricading the accident spot. Traffic policemen were furiously blowing their whistles at the curious drivers who caused the traffic to pile-up as they tried to figure out the white chalk marks highlighting blood drops on the roadside.

The Amici restaurant, located in in the by-lanes of the market, was closed at just 7 p.m. The guard posted outside the restaurant insisted that it was their usual time to close and did not allow anyone to enter.

“I only know that the victim’s name is Rajeev and he puts up in Dwarka. He is around 40-year-old and he was not supposed to come to the restaurant today (Tuesday),” the guard told IANS.

The police had earlier said that Agarwal, in his attempt to escape, had crushed Jolly four times.

The incident, however, has come as a rude shock to the market. People could not believe that such kind of an incident could happen in a market of such stature which is frequented by the elite of the city.

“I was astounded to hear about the incident. I mean this is one of the most posh markets in Delhi and incidents like these seldom happen here. Personally, in my last 10 years of coming here, I have never witnessed or even heard about any such incident,” said a visibly disturbed Vishal Gulati, 42.

The market was abuzz with talks about the incident. The parking attendants were more than share the incident but the visitors preferred to talk about it in hushed tones.

“I do not know exactly what happened there but it is very sad. People have lost respect for human lives. You never know when you will be stabbed or shot over a trivial issue,” said Ram Anand, who has a paan kiosk just 600 metres from the accident spot.

Mahesh Singh, owner of a toy store located near the accident site, said: “I came at my shop at around 4 p.m. and my employee told me about the incident. I was shocked and a bit scared because these things can happen to anyone anywhere.”

“There is no point paying with your life over such petty issues. In a city like Delhi, which is inhabited by such hot-headed people, one should engage in fights as little as possible,” Singh advised.