Gopinath Munde dies of cardiac arrest after road accident in Delhi
Updated
New Delhi, Jun 3 (NDTV): Senior BJP leader and union minister for rural development Gopinath Munde has died in a road accident in Delhi. He was 64.
Munde was on his way to the Delhi airport when his car met with an accident at around 6.20 this morning in the Moti Bagh area of the capital.
File Photo of Gopinath Munde taking oath as union minister
Doctors quoted the minister's personal staff as saying that another vehicle crashed into the car on the side that the minister was seated in the rear seat. They said the minister collapsed in the car.
Munde's car was hit by another vehicle, an Indica, at an intersection between Prithviraj Road and Aurobindo Road in Delhi.
The other vehicle, which jumped a traffic signal, hit Munde's car on the passenger's side.
Munde, who reportedly suffered minor injuries, was in major shock when he was rushed to the hospital.
The driver of the Indica has been detained at the Tughlaq Road police station.
Munde's driver and personal assistant were in the front and were unhurt. They rushed him to the trauma centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
"There was no spontaneous breathing and no cardiac activity when he was brought to the hospital," a doctor said.
For almost an hour, the doctors tried to revive the minister. He was pronounced dead at 7.20 am.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who had rushed to the hospital, said Munde, who was diabetic, had died of a heart attack.
Former BJP president and union minister Nitin Gadkari said at the hospital that after a post mortem this morning, Munde's body will be taken to the BJP office at 11 Ashoka Road for tributes.
His body will be flown to Maharashtra's Latur around 12 noon, from where it will be taken to Parli in Beed district, Munde's hometown.
Munde's last rites will be performed in Parli on Wednesday.
Munde, who was sworn in as a cabinet minister last week in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet, was to have taken an early morning flight to Mumbai. He was to have addressed a series of public meetings in Beed, his Lok Sabha constituency.
Driver arrested for collision with Munde's car
New Delhi, Jun 3 (IANS): The driver whose car rammed into Gopinath Munde's car, killing the union minister, has been arrested, police said Tuesday.
Gurvinder Singh, who was driving the car, was arrested from the spot.
Singh, 32, was driving his personal Tata Indica car, which rammed into the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader's Maruti Suzuki SX4 on the side he was sitting, police said.
"We are investigating whether he (Singh) jumped the red light in the morning," Delhi Police Joint Commissioner M.K. Meena told IANS.
The police have registered a case against Singh of rash and negligent driving, causing death.
Earlier Report
New Delhi, Jun 3 (IANS): Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde Tuesday died in a car accident here, doctors said.
"On his arrival to the AIIMS trauma centre, there was no spontaneous breathing, no blood pressure, no pulse and there was no cardiac activity. So immediately CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was started and continued for the next 15 minutes.
"Despite all aggressive resuscitative measures, he could not be revived and has been declared dead at 7.20 a.m. Immediately the CPR was started and was continued for the next 50 minutes," an AIIMS doctor told media.
Munde was brought to the hospital by his personal assistant and driver at 6.30 a.m. 10 minutes after he met with an accident, the doctor.
Munde was on his way to an airport in the morning when the accident took place at Aurobindo Marg in south Delhi, police said.
The news of senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde's death in an accident early Tuesday shocked Maharashtra's political circles.
Barely an hour after news of his serious injuries in a road accident, top political leaders and activists were preparing to catch flights, trains to New Delhi to inquire about his health.
Shortly thereafter, around 8.45 a.m., Gadkari came live on TV and broke the shocking news of Munde's death.
Gadkari said that around 8 a.m. the doctors at the AIIMS Hospital pronounced Munde dead.
Munde was rushed to the hospital after the car accident on Aurobindo Road, very close the residence of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, he added.
Gadkari said that later Tuesday Munde's body would be taken to his native village, Parali in Beed district of Maharashtra, for the funeral Wednesday.
The former BJP president said that Munde's family members were already at Mumbai airport and would reach New Delhi later in the morning.
This came as the second major setback for the entire Bharatiya Janata Party, coming as it did barely eight years after the killing of Munde's brother-in-law and senior party leader, the 56-year-old Pramod Mahajan May 3, 2006, in Mumbai.
Extremely saddened by Munde's death: Modi
Gopinath Munde was "a true mass leader", said Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was "extremely saddened and shocked" by the union minister's death.
"My tributes to a dynamic leader whose premature demise leaves a void hard to fill," tweeted Modi.
Munde died in a car accident in Delhi early Tuesday.
Modi said in another tweet: "Gopinath Munde ji was a true mass leader. Hailing from backward sections of society, he rose to great heights & tirelessly served people."
"Extremely saddened & shocked by the demise of my friend & colleague Gopinath Munde ji. His demise is a major loss for the Nation & the Govt."