- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Oberoi and Joshi, who were travelling in a Lamborghini, escaped unhurt while an elderly Swiss couple in a Ferrari died in the accident.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN real-estate tycoon Vikas Oberoi, who was recently involved in a deadly car crash in Sardinia in Italy with her actress wife Gayatri Joshi, has come under investigation for being a ‘double road homicide’ suspect, which means he could get a seven-year jail term if found guilty.
The high-speed crash involved, among other vehicles, two luxury cars — a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. Oberoi and Joshi were in the Lamborghini while an elderly Swiss couple, who were travelling in the Ferrari, died in the accident.
According to Italian news agency L’Unione Sarda, the 54-year-old Oberoi was driving the Lamborghini, the roof of which was ripped off in the impact but the Indian couple was unharmed. Footage from the accident spot emerged showing Joshi sitting on the road, seemingly crying. Oberoi was seen standing with his hands on his hip and looking at the mangled remains of their car in disbelief.
L’Unione Sarda quoted public prosecutor Giangiacomo Pilia as saying that the police gathered a number of videos from the crash site and were investigating them.
One of the videos, taken from a car going behind the Indian couple’s car, showed a number of sports cars lining up behind a camper van on a narrow two-lane road. When Oberoi’s Lamborghini tried to overtake the van, the Ferrari following him tried to sharply overtake both the vehicles and rammed into the Lamborghini, resulting in the disaster in which the van also overturned.
The Ferrari caught fire on impact and the Swiss couple, Markus and Melissa Krautli, could not escape from the burning vehicle and died.
Billionaire Oberoi and Joshi were driving as part of an Italian supercar tour.
Gayatri, who starred in Bollywood film Swades (2004) opposite Shah Rukh Khan, told India’s Free Press Journal, “Vikas and I are in Italy. We met with an accident here (multiple-car collision)… With God’s grace, we both are absolutely fine.”
Oberoi, one of India’s richest men, owns a big luxury hotel resort chain which operates across India and abroad besides a number of luxury cruise liners.
He is also the head of Oberoi Realty, a real estate developer which builds and sells luxury properties in Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
The two got married in 2005 and have two sons.
