In death, Ritu and Sanchit's eyes will bring light to others

Malkhan Singh, a heart patient, had reached the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital mortuary when he received the news of his daughter's death.

Ritu Singh (19) had been studying through the previous night for her BBA exam, when the car she was traveling in skidded off the Punjabi Bagh flyover, leaving her and her two friends dead and four critically injured.

Standing outside the mortuary, Malkhan signed several documents fulfilling Ritu's wish to donate her eyes.

"Your daughter lives on. She will get to see the world through another body," Lalit Kumar, Ritu's relative told her father, after which Malkhan started sobbing.

Even Sanchit Chabbra's father had decided to donate his son's organs; however, since his internal organs suffered irreparable damage in the accident, Sanchit's father decided to donated his son's eyes.

"Even in death my son will help others," said Sanchit's father Raj Kumar Chabbra.

However, what Ritu's parents did not know was that a few hours ago, several people had rummaged Ritu's body looking for valuables and reportedly stole some of her belongings.

These claims were made by Nizam, an eyewitness who had rescued the students from the car. Nizam claimed that around a crowd of hundred people had gathered and nobody helped the students.

"The minute the car fell from the flyover, I ran towards the wreckage. Two children also rushed to help, but their parents caught them and asked them not to get involved. I kept pleading for help but nobody came forward," Nizam said.

With the students still trapped, Nizam rallied a few people and managed to get hold of a hammer.

The windscreen of the car was broken, while the doors were cut open, and the students were rescued.

From the group of seven, one student managed to get out of the car before he fainted. Ritu and Sanchit were stuck under the wreckage of the car.

Soon, residents of nearby slum clusters gathered around and chose to make videos of the rescue operations, instead of participating in it.

By the time Ritu and Garima were pulled out of the car, a few men from the crowd started to go through their belongings.

"Several men took some jewellery that the girls were wearing. They also got hold of their mobile phones. I saw all of this take place, but could not stop them as I was involved in the rescue work. I was in complete shock," Nizam said.

However, Nizam managed to stop a bag containing some cash from being robbed. The ambulance arrived at the spot 30 minutes after the accident.

"The police arrived in five-ten minutes. But the ambulance was even late," claimed Mohammad Zia Ul Haq.

By the time the ambulance arrived and the students were being loaded, Nizam took the cash bag and hung it around a student's neck.

When asked about the robbing incident, police could not confirm. "The people who helped in the rescue works made these claims. We will ask the parents about the missing belongings. They are in shock now, so we will give them some time before they recover," said a senior police official privy to the investigation.

When Ritu's relatives were confronted with the incident, they claimed that one must look at what she did for humanity. "A day will come when someone will lose their eyes in an accident and they will get Ritu's eyes. We are proud of her," said Lalit Kumar.