At 100kmph, driver opens car door to spit; 1 dead, 3 injured

At 100kmph, driver opens car door to spit; 1 dead, 3 injured

Rashmi.Drolia@timesofindia.com 04.06.2025

 

Raipur : In a moment of recklessness, an Innova driver swung open the door to spit gutkha while speeding at over 100kmph, causing the MUV to flip several times and crash, killing a businessman and critically injuring two other occupants of the vehicle in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur on Monday. 

The Innova went somersaulting down the road, hitting two vehicles, and also injuring one of their drivers. The out-of-control Innova hit the divider and started rolled over, throwing all three occupants out of the vehicle. Police said the deceased, Jackie Gehi (31), a cloth merchant from the outskirts of Bilaspur, was flung violently and struck a metal structure near the divider, sustaining fatal injuries. He died on the spot. 

Police said Jackie had gone to a late-night party on Sunday and called a friend, Akash Chandani, around 1.30am to pick him up. Akash arrived with another friend, Pankaj Chhabra, in an Innova. Akash was driving, Pankaj sat in the front passenger seat, and Jackie was in the back. On Bilaspur-Raipur highway, Akash suddenly opened the door while driving to spit gutkha. 

He instantly lost control of the vehicle. Akash and Pankaj were also ejected from the MUV and slammed into the ground, suffering grievous injuries. The Innova then hurtled down the highway and slammed into a parked commercial vehicle, overturned four to five times more, and finally crashed into a parked Ertiga, injuring its driver, who never had a chance to turn on the ignition and get out of harm’s way. 

The horrifying accident was caught on CCTV. The footage shows the vehicle flipping down the road, and one of the passengers being ejected and slamming into a pole. Emergency services were on the scene swiftly as passersby alerted authorities. Police sealed off the area and hospitalised the injured. The wreckage was later cleared from the road.