Horror Story of Delhi Hit and Run Case, Five Accused Sent to Three Days Police Custody
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 2: A Delhi court on Monday granted three days police custody to five accused of the hit and run horror incident in which a 20-year old girl riding a scooty was hit by a car and her body dragged for over 12 kilometres on outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri area on the New Year eve.
The police disclosed the horror story by confirming that by the time the body of the girl was recovered after being dislodged from the bottom of the car, her entire clothes were completely torn and even the back of her body had ripped open.
After hearing the application seeking five days of custodial interrogation, Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Singh Parihar sent the five men to police custody for three days. The accused have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy, police said.
Sagar Preet Hooda, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) said a medical board has been constituted to conduct the autopsy. “Based on the post-mortem report, fresh charges could be added against the five accused arrested in connection with the case,” he said at a press conference.
“The accused will be taken to the scene of the crime to verify their version of events. The timeline of events will be established on the basis of the CCTV footage and digital evidence,” Mr. Hooda told reporters. “The forensic examination of the vehicle is also being done,” he said.
The accused have reportedly told the police that they did not know when and how the girl on the scooty was hit by the car or that the body had got entangled in its wheels and was lodged at its bottom. They have also claimed that they did not hear any noise because of loud music being played inside. But the police did not say how the accused explained the reason for their running the car on the same Kanjhawala road over and over again every time taking U-turns.
During the hearing, police told the court the probe was in the initial stages and custodial interrogation of the accused was required for taking it forward. The Sultanpuri police station has registered an FIR against Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26) and Manoj Mittal. The car involved in the accident was owned by Manoj Mittal, a local BJP leader while it was being driven by Deepak Khanna.
Scores of protesters gathered outside the Sultanpuri Police Station on Monday and blocked traffic demanding punishment for those responsible for the woman’s death. A person, who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident, alleged the woman’s body was dragged for over one-and-half hours.
A video purportedly showing the woman’s body without clothes and broken legs has also surfaced on social media. The footage also led to claims that the victim was raped and killed, but police said it was an accident.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed it the “rarest of rare crime” and demanded the strictest punishment for those behind the incident, while L-G V.K. Saxena said his head hung in shame over the “inhuman” crime.
“Spoke to Hon’ble L-G on Kanjhawala incident. Requested him to take exemplary action against culprits, strictest sections of IPC should be slapped against them. No leniency should be shown even if they have high political connections. He assured that he will take strong action,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted.
Aam Aadmi Party leaders on Monday staged a protest outside the residence of L-G Saxena and demanded his resignation over the incident. Around 200 AAP leaders and workers, including MLAs Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Durgesh Pathak, gathered outside Raj Niwas at Civil Lines and raised slogans.
Security around the L-G’s residence has been beefed up with barricades being put up and water cannons deployed in the area. Mr. Bhardwaj alleged that one of the accused in the case, Manoj Mittal, is a BJP leader and a hoarding bearing his picture hangs outside the local police station where he and his other friends are currently lodged. The Delhi BJP’s media cell head Harish Khurana, in his turn, said the police have already arrested the accused and the guilty should be given the strictest punishment regardless of the party they belong to.
At the protest in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri, an agitator said, “At the time of the incident, people were wearing five layers of clothes to beat the cold. Then what’s the likelihood of her being found naked?” An eyewitness said when he spotted the car and the woman under it, he immediately called the police and chased it for several kilometres.
“The body was visibly stuck under the car which made three rounds on the Kanjhawala Road taking U-turns after every few kilometres. Police just kept calling me and asking where I saw the body. I made a PCR call at 3.18 am, however, the first PCR call about the incident was made from Begumpur an hour before,” he said.
Another person, who works as a delivery boy for a food delivery aggregator, said the car took a U-turn after the driver saw police barricades on Kanjhawala Road. “I was completing an order when at Maharaja Agrasen Chowk a car running at high speed almost knocked me down. When the car took a U-turn upon noticing the barricades I saw the head of a girl at the rear end of the vehicle,” he said
Police have said the victim’s body was sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital at Mangolpuri for post-mortem. They said the victim’s leg got entangled in one of the wheels of the car and she was dragged around.
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal asked police to clarify if the woman was sexually harassed and if the accused have a criminal history. The panel on Sunday issued a notice to police in connection with the incident. “I have some questions for Delhi Police. Was the woman sexually harassed by the accused? Was she killed like this after she protested over the harassment? For how many kilometres was she dragged by the car? Was there no checkpost or OCR van deployed on the stretch that she (was) dragged on?” Ms. Maliwal asked.
The police sources, however, admitted that the car that dragged the girl had passed through areas that come under two police stations and taken together, these two police stations should have had five to seven PCR vans on the road. There should have been more. The Delhi Police had claimed they deployed 16,500 personnel on the road on account of New Year’s eve. But none, apparently, saw the shocking scene which has outraged the country. The car took three U-turns on the same road on in west Delhi’s Kanjhawala. On the third turn, the body got dislodged.
The eyewitness, Deepak Dahiya, a local confectioner, who saw the woman being dragged and gave chase to the car, shouting at it to stop, said he had described the situation to the PCR, but the police did not react. He said he had called the police when the car did not stop. “I told the PCR (Police Control Room) vans and pointed at the car, but they didn’t even try to catch it,” he said.
Deepak Dahiya runs a confectionery shop on Kanjhawala Road in Ladpur village. He said the accused kept dragging the body of the woman which got entangled to their vehicle for 18 to 20 kilometres and it lasted for about one and a half hours.
“It was 3:20 am…I was standing outside the shop when I heard a loud noise from a vehicle about 100 meters away. Earlier I thought it was a tire burst. As soon as the car moved, I saw a body being dragged. I informed the police immediately,” Dahiya said. After some time, he said around 3:30 am, the car took a U-turn and the dead body of the woman was still stuck under the vehicle. Dahiya said the accused drove repeatedly on the road of about 4-5 kilometres by taking U-turns.
“I tried to stop them many times but they did not stop the vehicle. For about one and a half hours they carried the woman’s body for about 20 km,’ he said. Dahiya said he also chased the car with his bike and was in contact with the police. After about one and a half hours, the body fell from the car near Jyoti village on Kanjhawala Road, after which the accused fled, he said.
“It could not be just an accident,” Dahiya stressed.
Earlier on Saturday, Special Commissioner of police Deependra Pathak had said that they had set up 1,600 pickets, 1200 mobile patrolling vehicles, 2,074 bikes and 125 checkpoints to catch drink driving. To ensure women’s safety, 2,500 women personnel were deployed as well.
Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party has claimed that this is a police cover-up since Manoj Mittal belonged to the BJP. The police said the car belongs to Manoj Mittal – who is a local leader and owns a ration shop — and Deepak Khanna was driving.
Harendra Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Outer Delhi said at the time of the incident, the woman fell off the scooty and was dragged under the car for a long distance. Police apprehended the accused on the basis of the registered car number. “The accused told police that the windows of the vehicle were closed and the music was playing on loud volume so they did not get to know…When they came to know they fled from the spot,” DCP said.
