NEW DELHI: In a rare decision, a court awarded a $275 thousand compensation to the family of a 44-year-old NRI who was crushed to death by a tractor on the Delhi-Gurgaon road eight years ago. Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) judge Swarana Kanta Sharma directed tractor owner Mohd Sahid and driver Mohd Hanif to pay $275 thousand with an interest of 7.5 per cent to the victims within 30 days.

Rajesh Khetrapal, who was working as master in Wallen Ship Management Ltd, Hong Kong, had died after being hit by a tractor when he was returning, along with his wife and two minor children, in his car from Gurgaon to Delhi on November 19, 2000. Deciding the petitions filed by Shelly Khetrapal, wife of the victim, their two children Siddhartha, 3, and Nupur, 8, and her parents-in-law Bimla and Ramesh, the court took into consideration the loss of dependency, love and affection and medical expenses due to the mishap while computing the compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Khetrapal, the NRI used to remain out of the country for six months in a year. During the argument, the court rejected plea of Sahid, who said that the vehicle was not owned by him as it was registered in the name of Chand Ram. On his part, Ram, however, produced documents to claim that he had sold the offending vehicle to Sahid on October 9 , 2000 well before a month of the accident. He also proved before the court that Sahid had got the vehicle released on a bond from a Gurgaon court, which is conducting criminal trial for the accident.