Gopalganj/ Patna : A young Supreme Court lawyer was killed and his wife critically injured in a devastating road accident late Thursday night, just two months after their wedding. The collision occurred near the Mangalpur bridge under Jadopur police station limits in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, when a speeding truck slammed into their rented car.
Pawan Prakash Pathak, 32, a noted lawyer who had been practicing in the Supreme Court for nearly a decade, died on the spot. His wife, Richa Shandilya, also a Supreme Court advocate, and the car’s driver, Akhilesh Singh, sustained life-threatening injuries and were rushed to the emergency ward of Sadar Hospital.
The couple had left from Bettiah, where they were visiting Richa’s family, and were en route to Gorakhpur to catch a bus to Delhi after their train was cancelled. They had just completed a traditional post-wedding ritual known as Donga earlier that day. A video circulating online shows Pawan playfully applying colour to his feet as Richa packed their bags—a joyful moment turned tragic hours later.
Family members are in shock. Richa’s maternal uncle, Atish Chaubey, told reporters: “They got married on 20 February. Pawan had come to our home on 30 April for the Donga ceremony. They left for Gorakhpur by cab because the train was cancelled. We got the accident news shortly after they left.”
The couple had shared their visiting cards with family before departing, saying they could be contacted anytime in Delhi.
Pathak, a native of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, had built a name for himself as a tenacious legal voice. In 2023, he represented the NGO Aryavart Mahasabha Foundation in the high-profile case concerning the death of 40 people due to illicit liquor in Chapra. He had earlier made headlines in 2020 for demanding a CBI probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput via a letter to the Chief Justice of Patna High Court.
Pawan was the only son of retired Subedar Chandra Prakash Pathak, who currently resides in Pune with his wife. The loss has left the family devastated.
The truck involved in the crash fled the scene but was later intercepted by Bettiah police. “Our team responded swiftly after receiving the information. The injured were immediately hospitalised and the deceased’s body has been sent for postmortem,” said SI Mangal Kumar.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
