Arjuna awardee and three-time Asia Pacific Rally Championship winner Gaurav Gill has been booked on Sunday, September 22, in connection with an accident during a National Rally Championship race. Three persons from a family lost their lives after Gaurav's car crashed into their motorcycle on Saturday. Gaurav Gill was accompanied by his co-driver M Sharif when the accident took place. Internal roads of various villages in Barmer were used as the track for the rally.

FIR lodged against Gaurav Gill and his driver

Additional Superintendent of Police Khinv Singh said the FIR was lodged at Samdari police station at 2 a.m. on Sunday on a complaint by the deceased’s elder son Rahul. Gill and driver M. Sharif were booked under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), the ASP said, He also mentioned that their names were also written on the vehicle that hit the motorcycle of the deceased. Companies involved in the event such as Maxperienace, Mahindra, JK Tyres, MRF Tyres and the Federation of Motor Sports Club of India have also been named in the FIR, said a police official. 

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Rahul claimed that his parents Narendra Kumar and Pushpa Devi were standing along the road with the motorcycle, talking to his younger brother Jitendra, when Gill’s car hit them, while two other cars that came from behind also crushed them. He alleged that his parents and brother died due to the negligence of the organisers and local authorities. Rahul also alleged that there were no proper safety and security arrangements in place during the race, but Barmer Superintendent of Police Shivraj Meena reported that adequate measures were adopted for the rally.

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Demands by the relatives

Meanwhile, 24 hours after the fatal accident in a village in Barmer, Rajasthan, family members and have refused to accept the bodies, which are still lying at the crash site. Gill’s car hit the motorcycle during the Jodhpur leg of the National Rally Championship on Saturday. Angry protesters refused to accept the bodies till their demands of compensation for the family of the deceased are met. They also demanded Gill’s arrest and a government job for one member of the family killed in the accident.

“The stalemate is continuing. Efforts are being made to end it but the organisers of the rally are not cooperating. The villages are demanding since yesterday that the organisers come to the spot but they are not responding,” SHO of Samdari Police Station Bhuta Ram said. He said the local police had no update about the whereabouts of Gill.

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(with PTI inputs)