Gurgaon: “Sarthak’s killers must not escape.” The words are both a plea and a promise for Akash Deep Choudhary, the city-based entrepreneur who was the first to reach the hospital after his colleague, Sarthak Mattoo (34), was run over by a Thar on Rajokri flyover on Thursday morning.For Akash, the horror began with a phone call at 6.45am.A passerby who found Sarthak critically injured on the flyover used his fingerprint to unlock his phone and called the last dialled number — one of his teammates, who then alerted Akash.“I called back immediately. The man told me Sarthak was in very bad shape…. Both his legs were crushed and dangling from the waist,” Akash, co-founder of Enout, told TOI.Sarthak had left early for Noida on his black Pulsar, riding ahead of his teammates who were following in two cars for an event assignment. He had joined the Gurgaon-based event company only three months ago after returning from the UK.“He was happy and had just cleared probation. We were working on big projects. He was one of the brightest people on our team. We were in Thailand days ago, then Bengaluru. He was always picked for the best work,” he added.As Akash rushed towards Rajokri, he called on the passerby’s number again. By then, a PCR van had arrived.“I spoke to a policewoman and asked where they were taking him. She said Safdarjung. I told them not to waste time and take him to the nearest private hospital. In such cases, every minute matters,” Akash said.By the time Akash reached the hospital in Vasant Kunj, Sarthak had passed away. “I begged the doctors to save him. But they said there was nothing left to do.”What followed was harder.On the way, Akash pulled out Sarthak’s emergency contact details from the company database and called his mother. He only told her there had been an accident and Sarthak had suffered injuries.“She asked me how he was. I couldn’t tell her on the phone. Telling his parents that their only child was no more… that was the hardest thing.”When she eventually learnt that Sarthak had succumbed to injuries, his mother went silent. “She could not speak for three-four hours. Not a word. She spoke sobbed at the cremation,” he added.The anger among Sarthak’s family and colleagues has only deepened since.Police said the Thar, carrying a Karnataka registration number, hit Sarthak from behind before making a sharp cut, causing him to skid and fall under its wheels. The driver fled. A case was registered under sections of rash driving, causing death by negligence, endangering life and causing hurt.Akash said what haunts him most is the thought that Sarthak might have survived had the SUV driver stopped and rushed him to hospital instead of fleeing. “In accidents like these, the first few minutes are everything. If he had been taken in sooner, who knows, Sarthak might still have been alive,” he added.Calling hit-and-run cases a growing pattern across the country, Akash said there has to be accountability. “This keeps happening in India. People hit someone and run, hoping to escape. It has become far too common. We cannot allow this case to fade away. Whoever did this must be found and punished,” he added.Sarthak’s father, Surender Mattoo, has appealed to PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah for justice.“It was his birthday. He would have turned 34 today. Instead, we lit his pyre. They left him on the road. They are killers. They should be behind bars,” he added.For those who knew him, the loss still feels unreal. “He left for work. He never came back,” Akash said.
