Noida, July 22 -- An unidentified e-rickshaw driver died and several others sustained minor injuries after a Jeep Meridian Overland (SUV) allegedly rammed into six parked vehicles on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (NH-9) late Sunday night, police said on Monday. The parked vehicles - two scooters, two motorcycles and two cars - had stopped on the roadside to assist victims of a prior accident involving a Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and an e-rickshaw. The series of collisions, which left a total of eight vehicles badly damaged, began around 11.50pm near the Sector 63 NIB police outpost when a Ciaz car hit an e-rickshaw allegedly driving on the wrong side of the expressway, officials added. Ajay Kumar Mishra, a retired deputy commissioner and practising lawyer, who was driving the Ciaz, said he and his son Ashish Mishra were returning to their home in Mansarovar Park, Delhi, from Noida's Sector 75 after visiting his daughter. "A car was moving parallel to mine on the right side. Suddenly, it applied brakes as an e-rickshaw appeared in the fast lane from the wrong direction. Instead of stopping, the e-rickshaw driver turned the wheel towards my car and we collided head-on," Mishra told HT. He added that both airbags in the Ciaz deployed, and he and his son escaped without serious injury. "When my son observed that my health was deteriorating, he took me to the other side of the road," Mishra said. Some passersby who witnessed the crash called the police helpline and informed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Several motorists also stopped to help the injured e-rickshaw driver and the Ciaz occupants. According to a police officer familiar with the investigation, a Jeep Meridian SUV travelling from Meerut towards Delhi at around 12.30am allegedly ploughed into the six parked vehicles. "Instead of moving carefully through the fast lane, the Meridian driver, suspected to be in an inebriated condition and moving at nearly 100km per hour - crashed into the six vehicles on the left lane," the police officer said, requesting anonymity. At the time of the second crash, the fast lane was operational while the other two lanes were partially closed due to the earlier accident, with the Ciaz parked in the middle lane and other vehicles on the left. Akash Gautam, one of the bystanders whose Honda Activa was among the damaged vehicles, said, "When we (locals and passersby) were helping them, a car rammed into our vehicles. My scooter was completely damaged. Fortunately, I escaped." Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Noida, Swatantra Singh confirmed that the e-rickshaw driver sustained multiple leg fractures and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed during treatment early Monday morning. A case of rash driving and property damage was registered against Deepak Bhati, the Meridian driver and a resident of Greater Noida, at Sector 58 police station. "He was in an inebriated condition," Singh said. He added that in the second accident, a separate case may be registered once the deceased driver is identified. "But a primary investigation revealed that he was driving on the wrong side." Police said all other people involved suffered only minor injuries and went home. Further investigation is underway....