Two college students were killed as a joyride with friends turned fatal when the woman behind the wheel, who was allegedly drunk, lost control and crashed the car at high speed on a road divider in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar early on Sunday morning, police said. (Sushil Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Diksha Dadu, the 19-year-old law student who was allegedly driving the car during a joyride that resulted in the death of two of her friends in north Delhi on Sunday, had four times the permissible limit of alcohol in her blood, the police said.

When police met her minutes after the accident, Dadu allegedly tried to save herself by lying about her name. She also tried to mislead the rescuers by claiming the accident was triggered by another car ramming the Hyundai i20 she was driving. Police officials added that she did not even have a valid driver’s licence.

The accident took place on 2.30am on Sunday in Mukherjee Nagar and it resulted in the death of two male Amity University engineering students, while two female students from the same university were wounded. All the students were in the car with Dadu and were aged between 19 and 21.

“Medical examination showed Dadu had 137 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood in her body at the time of the accident. The permissible alcohol limit for driving is 30 mg per 100 ml of blood,” said Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (northwest). “Her learner’s licence had expired last October. She did not get a driving licence after that.”

The officer said the medical reports on the alcohol status of the other four persons in the car were awaited. Eyewitnesses had alleged that at least two unbroken alcohol bottles, plastic glasses and snacks were recovered from the mangled remains of the car.

A policeman who was the first to reach the accident spot stated in the FIR that the woman driving the car had initially said her name was Priya Sharma. The FIR, which was registered two hours after the accident, reflected Priya Sharma as the driver’s name.

“Dadu lied about her name as she was probably scared of the legal consequences. One of her surviving friends later revealed her real identity,” said Khan. Dadu, who is the daughter of a businessman, lives with her family in outer Delhi’s Rohini.

Booked for causing death by negligence, if Dadu is found guilty she can be punished with two years in jail, or a monetary penalty or both.

According to Sagar Arora, a local resident and one of the rescuers, Dadu was the first to come out of the car. “Initially, she kept insisting that another car had rammed the i20. But when police arrived, she admitted that she had lost control of her car,” Arora alleged.

Police said the car had rolled up a road divider, knocked down a metal board, a cement slab and a marble signboard before flipping and colliding with a traffic signal. An investigator had said that the extent of damage suggested that the car was being driven at speeds in excess of 100 km/hr.

Another local who had arrived at the accident scene Ashok Arora claimed that the five students were driving recklessly in the Mukherjee Nagar market for nearly an hour before the crash. An investigator said the students planned to go to Murthal for an early morning dinner later.

According to an investigator, Dadu had taken to the wheel just three minutes before the accident. “For hours before the accident, the car was being driven by its owner, Ritesh Dahiya. But when Dahiya got off his seat for a break, Dadu occupied it and insisted that she drive despite Dahiya’s resistance,” the officer said.