There may be more embarrassment for the actor-turned-politician Hema Malini if the latest revelation about the details surrounding Thursday night car accident that killed a four-year-old girl is true.
As more facts emerge, it appears the girl killed was not four-year-old but a two-year-old baby, who according to her father could have been saved if the same urgency was shown to rush her to a hospital with better facilities.
Chinni reportedly died in her mother’s lap, PTI quoted her father as saying. Her father is still recuperating at a local hospital.
According to reports, Hema Malini’s Mercedes car had rammed a Maruti Alto car near Dausa in Rajasthan yesterday while she was on her way to Jaipur from her constituency in Mathura in UP.
One girl died and four others were badly injured in the Alto, while Hema Malini and her driver suffered injuries.
Harsh Khandelwal, the deceased’s father, said that while all five people in their car lay bleeding on the road for about 20-25 minutes till help arrived, the BJP lawmaker was immediately rushed to Jaipur’s posh Fortis hospital by a local doctor.
“My little girl died in the lap of her mother in car. It is sad that mother is also struggling for survival in poly-trauma ward in the hospital. She does not even know that Chinni is no more,” Khandelwal told the news agency.
Mr Khandelwal’s wife Shikha, her brother’s wife Seema are being treated in Sawai Man Singh hospital’s poly-trauma ward, while son Somil, is in serious condition in ICU.
An uncle of Chinni, Shirish Gupta said, “Hema Malini was taken to a hospital in Dausa by a doctor immediately after the incident. He then took her to Fortis hospital while Chinni was lying at the spot for 15-20 minutes. Nobody asked about her. Had she (Chinni) been taken to the hospital along with Hema Malini, she would have been saved.”
The accident and how the urgency was shown to providing medical help to the actress followed by media’s interest in focussing its coverage on the BJP MP had become a subject twitter conversation. Most users were critical of both the actress and media.
(File photo of little Chinni. Courtesy NDTV)