Senior IAS officer and Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Information) Navneet Sahgal, and four others, were on Friday injured in a car accident at Unnao on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, days ahead of its inauguration.

Police said Sahgal’s official car collided with a private car between Atiya and Inayatpur villages, under Auras police station area.

The officer has suffered head injuries and has been rushed to the Trauma Centre at KGMU here, along with his driver, gunner, and two others who were in the private car, they said.

A 1988-batch IAS officer, Sahgal is also Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).

Hours before the accident, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had warned against driving at high speed on the state-of-the-art road. “I request you to drive on the expressway with caution and not exceed a speed limit of 100 kmph,” he had said after a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

Akhilesh is scheduled to inaugurate the 302-km six-lane expressway – his dream project and the longest expressway in the country- on November 21.

It has been constructed by the UPEIDA to reduce traffic on congested roads and bring down pollution and carbon footprint.

It has been completed in a record 22 months.