Jitendra & Narendra Kumar + Pushpa Devi's Fatal Crash @ Maxperience Rally 2019 (Aftermath)
- 3 months ago
The 2019 edition of the Maxperience Rally, third round of the Champions Yacht Club-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), was called off at the end of the first stage, as a result of a tragic accident involving the Indian rally star Gaurav Gill. It happened on Saturday, 21 September 2019 near Jodhpur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan, northwestern India, three people lost their lives.
The deceased were Narendra Kumar, a motor-biker carrying his wife Pushpa Devi and their young son Jitendra Kumar. They were on a motorcycle without wearing helmets and had ventured onto the course of the special stage, despite being warned by rally marshals. They came into the path of Gaurav Gill’s car that was traveling at an estimate speed of 145 km/h (90 mi/h).
The #1 Mahindra XUV300 entered by Team Mahindra Adventure of Gaurav Gill and his navigator Musa Sherif was the first of 53 cars to reach the end of the 13.5-kilometer special stage. While taking a sharp left turn about 200 meters to the finish line, Gaurav Gill collided with the motorcycle, which was right on the middle of the road. He vainly tried a braking manoeuvre, but because of the speed, he was unable to avoid impact.
All the three occupants of the motorcycle were killed on the spot. Gaurav Gill also sustained ribs injuries in the crash and was taken to hospital. A day after the accident, he and Musa Sherif were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The elder son of the victims, Rahul Kumar alleged that there were no proper safety and security arrangements in place during the rally, but the organizers said that adequate measures were adopted for the event.
Six-time winner of the Indian National Rally Championship, Gaurav Gill became the first Indian motorsport driver to be conferred the Arjuna award, earlier in 2019. Co-driven by Glenn Macneall of Australia in a Ford Fiesta R5 entered by Team MRF Tyres, he participated in four World Rally Championship events in 2018, the Rally Italia Sardegna, Neste Rally Finland, Wales Rally GB and Rally Australia - in which he took his best finish of 15th overall - and in 2019 in the Rally Turkey Marmaris.
R.I.P
The deceased were Narendra Kumar, a motor-biker carrying his wife Pushpa Devi and their young son Jitendra Kumar. They were on a motorcycle without wearing helmets and had ventured onto the course of the special stage, despite being warned by rally marshals. They came into the path of Gaurav Gill’s car that was traveling at an estimate speed of 145 km/h (90 mi/h).
The #1 Mahindra XUV300 entered by Team Mahindra Adventure of Gaurav Gill and his navigator Musa Sherif was the first of 53 cars to reach the end of the 13.5-kilometer special stage. While taking a sharp left turn about 200 meters to the finish line, Gaurav Gill collided with the motorcycle, which was right on the middle of the road. He vainly tried a braking manoeuvre, but because of the speed, he was unable to avoid impact.
All the three occupants of the motorcycle were killed on the spot. Gaurav Gill also sustained ribs injuries in the crash and was taken to hospital. A day after the accident, he and Musa Sherif were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The elder son of the victims, Rahul Kumar alleged that there were no proper safety and security arrangements in place during the rally, but the organizers said that adequate measures were adopted for the event.
Six-time winner of the Indian National Rally Championship, Gaurav Gill became the first Indian motorsport driver to be conferred the Arjuna award, earlier in 2019. Co-driven by Glenn Macneall of Australia in a Ford Fiesta R5 entered by Team MRF Tyres, he participated in four World Rally Championship events in 2018, the Rally Italia Sardegna, Neste Rally Finland, Wales Rally GB and Rally Australia - in which he took his best finish of 15th overall - and in 2019 in the Rally Turkey Marmaris.
R.I.P