The third Mughal Rally, which had attracted top rallyists of the country to ensure a top spot at one of the most awaited and hotly contested motorsport events in India, however, ended on a sad note on Sunday evening. Jitender Shukla of Punjab, one of the key participants, was killed and his navigator Ashish Mahajan seriously injured when they met with an accident on the climb up to the 12,450-foot-high Sinthan Pass in the Western Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir.
The distribution function for the three-day event, which was to be held here on Monday morning, was cancelled following the tragic incident being widely mourned by the organisers and participants alike. Mr Mahajan, also from Punjab, is battling for life in the ICU at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), officials said. Doctors attending on him said he has been put on life support system.
Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkata emerged numero one in the Xtreme 4x4 category, leaving other motorsport titans behind. The event was organised in Kashmir between June 30 and July 1.
Mughal Rally is so named because it races along the historical road set in the verdant of Pir Panjal ranges of the Western Himalayas used by the medieval Mughal rulers of India to travel through Kashmir and beyond to Lahore. The event has attracted competitors and generated interest from every corner of India, with organisers Himalayan Motorsport being hard put to close entries in record time.
On Sunday evening, team No. 61 participating in the Enduro category of the rally met with an accident on the climb up to Sinthan Pass. About 40 CRPF jawans deployed for the safe passage of the rally and who were waiting for the last car to cross the stretch saw the vehicle of the two rallyists skidding off the road. They rushed for the rescue operation and were joined by the marshals deputed for the rally, who were also close to the site.
The CRPF jawans found Shukla and Mr Mahajan stuck in the damaged vehicle and profusely bleeding. They brought them up to the track and the doctors in the ambulance stationed near the site found that Shukla was dead. Mr Mahajan, who was injured, was immediately given medical care.
by the team in the second ambulance. He was taken in an unconscious state to SKIMS, Srinagar. “The organisers and the competitors were in a pall of gloom after hearing news of the mishap,” a spokesperson said.