Tragic Road Accident Claims Lives of Groom-to-Be and Friends During Wedding Shopping Trip | Lucknow News – Times of India

LUCKNOW: Three youths, including a would-be groom, died in a road accident on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway while on their way to Lucknow for wedding shopping. Around 2 am, their speeding vehicle collided with a truck, one kilometre before the toll plaza in the Kakori police station area.
After the collision, the truck driver fled the scene, leaving behind the mangled vehicles. Police arrived after being alerted by the UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and worked for over two hours to extract the passengers from the car. Two passengers died on the spot, while one succumbed to injuries during treatment. The remaining two are in critical condition.
SHO Kakori, Nawab Ahmed, told TOI that the five young men from Farrukhabad were en route to Lucknow when the accident occurred. Shashank Rathore (24) from Jahanaganj, was travelling with his friends Shivam Yadav (24) from Civil Lines, Fatehgarh, Anuj Rathore (24), Aditya Rajput (22), and Shantanu Singh (24) to shop for his wedding. The car, owned by Aditya, crashed around 2 am, just before the Rewari toll plaza, killing Shashank and Shivam on the spot. Anuj, Aditya, and Shantanu were severely injured. Anuj later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, he said.
With assistance from a crane, the police managed to separate the car from the truck and rescue the victims. The injured were rushed to a hospital, where Shantanu and Aditya remain in critical condition. The police informed the families of the victims through the surviving passengers and seized both the car and truck for further investigation.
Tragic end to wedding preparations: Shashank’s brother shared that Shashank had been preparing for his wedding next month, after getting engaged two months ago. He owned an e-rickshaw agency and had joined his friends on the wedding shopping trip. Shivam Yadav had been living in a rented apartment in Lucknow’s Budheshwar area, preparing for competitive exams, and the group had planned to stay with him overnight before shopping the next day. The devastating accident has left the families in shock, mourning the loss of young lives on what should have been a joyous occasion.