Himanshi Gupta, a promising IT analyst from Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh, India), was killed and another colleague of hers suffered 'life-changing injuries' in an alleged hit-and-run crash on their morning commute.
The accident happened at around 9.30am near Beavers Community Primary School at Hounslow, west London, last week.
Twenty-six-year-old Himanshi was travelling from Hounslow to Kensington, where she has been on a placement for Tata Consultancy Services since July. She was thrown backwards over a hedge when a black Range Rover mounted the pavement and slammed into her and her colleague as they waited at a bus stop, witnesses said.
The 39-year-old driver of the Range Rover was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
The computer expert was flown to hospital by air ambulance where she was pronounced dead soon afterwards.
Her colleague, also in her 20s, had undergone emergency spinal surgery at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington.
Niyati Sanghani, a cousin and Himanshi’s only relative in the UK, told the Evening Standard: “Her parents are devastated, she was their eldest daughter. They got the call to say she was dead but they couldn’t comprehend it. Her father was very close to her, she was a real daddy’s girl. It’s so sad because her family were planning to find her a man so she could get married when she returned.”
Pictures of Himanshi reveal how she had been enjoying London in her new role. She had sent dozens of photographs home posing by landmarks Big Ben, St Paul’s and the London Eye. Himanshi had been due to return to India in a matter of weeks.
Relatives revealed that Himanshi had a promising future with the Indian IT giant and was doing well in her new role.
Himanshi’s devastated family in Jabalpur are liaising with authorities in Britain to have her body repatriated.
