‘He loved his bikes… would take the Triumph out on weekends’: Family of finance ministry official killed in crash with BMW

On Sunday, Navjot, a senior Finance Ministry official, and his wife, Sandeep Kaur, visited the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. They then had lunch at Karnataka Bhavan and were heading home. Around 1.15 pm, near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station, a BMW M5 rammed into their Triumph bike. Navjot was killed, and Sandeep sustained injuries.

Police said the woman behind the wheel, Gaganpreet Makkar, took them to a hospital in GTB Nagar — nearly 17 km from the site. She was arrested on Monday.

Navjot’s family lives in a two-bedroom home on the first floor of building P-155 in the middle-class locality of Hari Nagar in West Delhi. The two bedrooms sit on either side of a central hall — one filled with men discussing formalities for getting the body; the other filled with women consoling his grieving mother.

In the hall, Balwant sits on a wooden chair, flanked by two of Navjot’s colleagues, trying to process the six hours that changed his life forever.

At 11 am on Sunday, he watched Navjot leave the house. By 5 pm, he saw his body. His grandson, Navnoor, broke the news to him.

Balwant has watched his son grow up in that very house, alongside his younger daughter, Puneet, who now lives in the United States and is expected to reach Delhi tomorrow.

“He was such a decent man. Brilliantly sharp as a kid, always mild-mannered and disciplined. He always looked like an Army veteran’s son,” says Gagandeep Singh, a neighbour.

Navjot pursued an MSc in Botany from Delhi University. He took the Central Secretariat Services (CSS) exam in 1998 and joined the government service. Over the years, he rose through the ranks to become Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Finance Ministry. He was due for a promotion in six months.

“He had been training for his new role at IIM Lucknow for the past six weeks. A relative of ours came from Australia during that time, but he refused to meet on weekdays — he didn’t want to miss even a single day of training. On the weekend, he flew down to Delhi to meet them. We showed them around the city — Humayun’s Tomb, India Gate,” recalls Balwant.

Navjot was also posted in the Defence Ministry before moving back to the Finance Ministry. His family says Navjot had represented the government at various international conferences. He also frequently visited the United States and other European countries as part of government delegations. He went to Spain this June and to New York in May for UN summits, they say.

“I had such dreams for him… from the day he was born at the Agra Army hospital. He was only 56… still climbing. Where would he have reached if not for this? He didn’t deserve this,” Balwant says, his voice heavy with grief.

It was Navnoor who got the call from the hospital. Speaking to The Indian Express, he says, “I got to know about it when I was leaving my friend’s house on Sunday afternoon, about 1.15 pm. I informed my family and rushed to the hospital. For about six hours, we were unaware that she (Gaganpreet) was also in the same hospital.”

Navnoor turns 22 on Tuesday, September 16. “He had just completed his studies and started a job on August 1,” says Bitty Singh, Navjot’s sister-in-law. “What was to be a celebration has now ended with him telling the media about his father’s death.”

Going to Bangla Sahib was a weekend ritual for Navjot and Sandeep. “He loved his bikes, you know. They would take the Triumph out on weekends and visit the gurdwara. They were very well known there. He was a very composed driver… aware of speed limits,” she adds.

Sandeep has since been shifted to Venkateshwar Hospital in Dwarka Sector 12, where she is recovering. She received stitches on her head, family members say.

Navjot’s post-mortem will be conducted on Tuesday at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, police say. His body will then be handed over to the family, which will perform his last rites at 2 pm the same day.