The highway from Ajmer to Pushkar is usually packed with pilgrims and tourists. But late on the night of May 18, it became a crime scene. A speeding Toyota Fortuner SUV rammed into three motorcycles near Pushkar Ghati. One person died, and four others were badly injured. What could have been chalked up as just another tragic road accident quickly revealed something darker: the glaring hypocrisy that often hides behind religious titles and VIP culture.
Police identified the SUV driver as Digvijay Singh Chauhan, a man linked to the Khatu Shyam Mandir Seva Samiti. Initial social media rumours quickly called him a priest. Further investigation, however, showed he was a sevadar, a volunteer for the temple committee. Videos online even show him handling VIP duties inside the famous Khatu Shyam Temple. But the scene inside his car that night was entirely different. Police pulled cartons and bottles of alcohol from the crashed Fortuner. To make matters worse, the vehicle was officially registered to the Khatu Shyam Mandir Seva Samiti itself. The irony of an intoxicated sevadar turning a temple trust vehicle into a mobile bar has rightfully sparked public outrage.
Beyond the outrage is a grieving family. The victim, Ravi, was a young painter from Dholabhata in Ajmer. He was riding a motorcycle with his brother-in-law, Jitendra, completely unaware of the speeding SUV barreling toward them. Ravi leaves behind four sisters and his father, Kishore Kumar, a retired railway employee who filed the police complaint in Pushkar. For Ravi’s family, the religious connections of the driver offer zero comfort. It just proves how ordinary people are routinely put in danger by those who think they are above the law.
What makes this crime even worse is the history of the vehicle. The Fortuner owned by the temple trust did not just suddenly turn dangerous on May 18. Reports show the SUV already had nine pending traffic challans, all for overspeeding. This is a massive failure in road safety enforcement. In India, vehicles owned by trusts, ashrams, or VIPs often dodge the scrutiny applied to regular citizens. Ignoring nine speeding tickets shows a dangerous sense of entitlement. The driver clearly believed a temple trust vehicle would not face actual consequences. This crash was not a sudden mistake; it was the inevitable result of unchecked recklessness.
This mix of religious VIP culture and rule-breaking is a huge problem. Temple trusts hold immense financial and social power, and the people associated with them often get a free pass in society. Finding liquor in a vehicle registered to a major Hindu shrine trust is a massive ethical breach. It begs a few clear questions. Who monitors how trust assets are used? How are these volunteers vetted before they represent a deity to millions of people? The Khatu Shyam Temple management carries a heavy moral responsibility, and they failed on that front here.
The statistics make this tragedy even more infuriating. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reports hundreds of thousands of road accidents in India every year. Speeding and drunk driving are always at the top of the list for fatal crashes, and motorcyclists usually take the worst of the impact against heavy SUVs. The Pushkar crash is a textbook example of this. The Motor Vehicles Act introduced heavier penalties for drunk driving recently. Yet, enforcement is still full of holes. The fact that a car could rack up nine speeding tickets without being impounded is a loophole that ultimately cost Ravi his life.
Digvijay Singh Chauhan is now in custody, but the investigation should not stop with him. The Khatu Shyam Mandir Seva Samiti needs to answer for the misuse of its vehicle. Religious institutions cannot be allowed to become safe havens for criminal negligence. The public anger surrounding this case needs to push authorities to enforce traffic laws equally, no matter who owns the car. True devotion means taking responsibility, and no amount of spiritual privilege can erase what happened on the Pushkar highway that night.
References:
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India: Annual Reports on Road Accidents in India, detailing statistics on overspeeding and drunk driving fatalities. https://morth.nic.in
- The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019: Legislation outlining enhanced penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol (Section 185) and overspeeding (Section 183). https://egazette.gov.in
- Media reports and police statements regarding the Pushkar-Ajmer highway collision on May 18, confirming vehicle registration details, pending challans, and the identity of the accused sevadar.