Indian community devastated, three families torn apart by Royal Daylesford Hotel crash

The five victims have been identified, and they include a lawyer, her young daughter and partner.

Pratibha Sharma, her daughter Anvi were killed when a car drove through a beer garden at Daylesford's Royal Hotel on Sunday.

A high-profile community activist and charity worker, her young daughter and her partner are among the five people killed when an out-of-control BMW SUV cannoned into revellers at a popular country Victorian hotel.

Lawyer and political aspirant Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, 9, and partner Jatin Chugh, 30, died on Sunday night after being mown down in the Victorian tourist town of Daylesford.

The other victims have been identified as Tarneit father Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his 11-year-old son Vihaan.

Ruchi Bhatia, 36, and their six-year-old son were both injured in the crash. An 11-month-old baby was hospitalised after the 66-year-old driver’s luxury car catapulted out of control 110km northwest of Melbourne, leaving scenes of devastation that made the identification of some victims difficult.

Melbourne’s Indian community, particularly in the city’s booming west, was awash with grief after Ms Sharma’s death was revealed. A former independent candidate for state parliament, Ms Sharma was a community worker who recently graduated with a law degree.

Pratibha Sharma her daughter Anvi and her partner Jatin were all killed.

Anvi often wrote her mother notes to express her love and gratitude.

Australian Sikh Support secretary Gurjit Singh said Ms Sharma was well known for the help she offered international students with visa issues and through her volunteer work with his organisation. Ms Sharma gave her time during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to pack and deliver food boxes to those in quarantine.

“She was very active and ­community-centric and sometimes she would come into the warehouse with her father and sometimes her daughter,” Mr Singh said. “She would bring her own car and get the food boxes and deliver them to the Point Cook area. She also helped immigration with student visas.”

He described Anvi as a “beautiful kid” who would play with other children in the warehouse.

Jasvinder Sidhu, a friend of Ms Sharma’s, described the mother and lawyer as a “self-made” woman who wanted to make a difference.

“She was very successful and a very outgoing and confident brave person,” he said.

“I met her at various Indian community events, she was in advocacy work and did a lot of work for women. I believe why people are shocked is because she was self-made, it’s not common to see women from migrant backgrounds succeed on their own.”

Vivek Bhatia with his youngest son, and Ruchi Bhatia with their eldest son Vihaan.

Mr Sidhu said he was getting calls from women in the Indian community who had never met Ms Sharma, but knew of her work.

“A lot of friends are not able to talk, people are so shocked, people are overwhelmed with grief. After my Facebook post I noticed a number of people from my community reaching out.”

He described Anvi as bubbly and confident girl.

“I remember I saw her perform at an event in Point Cook. She was doing a Bollywood dance. She came smiling and running to greet her parents. That’s my memory of her daughter.”

Investigators are trying to work out how the driver struck and killed the five but also hit ­others as families gathered just after 6pm on Sunday at the Royal Daylesford Hotel.

Also killed were a 38-year-old man and his 11-year-old son, from Tarneit in Melbourne’s west. The man’s wife, 36, and their second son, 6, were injured.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the car’s driver, from nearby Mt Macedon, did not have a criminal history and the incident did not relate to national security, ruling out terrorism as a cause.

Emergency services ­ were confronted with a deep tragedy when they arrived, he said.

Anthony Albanese said: “We are all shocked by what happened in Daylesford, and so deeply saddened – for those whose lives were so cruelly cut short, and for those who can never be the same again.”

People leave flowers at the Royal Daylesford Hotel. Five people are dead following a crash at the The Royal Daylesford Hotel. The car crashed into the beer garden of the Vincent Street venue about 6.05pm last night Five people were killed and multiple people injured. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Daylesford, on the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, fills with tourists on long weekends, with many at the hotel capitalising on the Tuesday Melbourne Cup holiday.

There was confusion on Monday night about some of the relationships among the injured. Police said a 43-year-old Kyneton woman and a 38-year-old Cockatoo man were also injured and were known to each other but investigators were still trying to work out the link. Both were flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the 11-month-old boy with the pair was also injured. He was driven to Ballarat Base Hospital and has since been transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

The baby’s mother, a 34-year-old woman from Cockatoo, 60km east of Melbourne, was not injured.

The hotel has closed while it helps investigators work out the steps that led to the tragedy. Road Policing Command superintendent John Fitzpatrick said friends and family had most likely watched their loved ones die.

“I haven’t seen something this drastic for a long time – any time you have five people die at the one scene, it’s horrible,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

A crumpled light pole lays across the intersection outside, the Royal Hotel, where five people were killed on Sunday night.

Witnesses recalled seeing the BMW driver sitting behind the wheel, perhaps shocked by the events that unfolded. The car’s front sustained significant damage, with the bumper bar almost torn off.

Police at the scene collected remnants of the crash, including a metal light pole up-ended from its base.

The vehicle was travelling down a steep hill on Albert Street before it mounted a gutter and drove across the grassed area outside the pub. The car then crashed into people sitting at tables. The driver was taken to hospital for shock and minor injuries and Mr Patton said he had no alcohol in his system after blood tests were taken for analysis.

“In terms of the investigation, it is still very early days yet, very early days,” Mr Patton said.

“All lines of inquiry are open to us on this occasion, including whether a medical episode has been involved.’’

Ms Sharma her daughter Anvi.

A former independent candidate for state parliament, Ms Sharma was a community worker who recently graduated with a law degree.

Investigators were working on a reconstruction of the incident, which would help determine whether speed was a factor in the crash.

“Obviously there has been significant contact from a vehicle that has caused a lot of trauma, deaths and damage,” Mr Patton said.

Investigators at the Royal Daylesford Hotel. Picture: Brendan Beckett

A vigil took place at Victoria Park on Monday evening.