New Delhi: The accused, who allegedly hit a 20-year-old woman returning home on her scooty in the new year and dragged her body for over an hour on the streets of West Delhi, had borrowed a Maruti Baleno car. A close friend had said in the FIR lodged in the matter hours before the shocking incident took place. According to the FIR, the accused have confessed that they were drunk at the time of the incident. After hitting the woman who fell from the scooty, they panicked and fled from the spot.
The woman, identified as Anjali Singh, was returning from work at around 2 am when the gruesome accident took place. After falling off her scooty, the girl got trapped in the undercarriage of the car and was dragged for about 13 km before people were aware of it, read the FIR.
According to the police, the Maruti Baleno car was borrowed twice. Its owner Lokesh lent it to Ashutosh, who lent it to his friends Amit and Deepak Khanna. “Two of the four accused – Deepak Khanna and Amit Khanna – borrowed a car from a friend on December 31, 2022 at around 7 pm and returned the car at their home on January 1, 2023 at around 5 am.” Said FIR.
Deepak Khanna and Amit Khanna later told their friend that they had hit a girl on her scooty and fled from the accident site to Kanjhawala, according to the FIR, they also admitted that they were drunk at the time of the incident.
The FIR also states that Deepak Khanna was driving the car, while accused Manoj Mittal was sitting next to the driver’s seat, the other two accused Mithun Kumar and Amit Khanna were on the back seat of the car. After fleeing the accident spot, they stopped the car near Jaunti village on Kanjhawala road, where they found the body of the victim woman trapped under the car, the FIR further read.
Meanwhile, forensic experts on Monday conducted the post-mortem of the girl, whose body was dragged under a car for nearly 13 km after it collided with her scooter in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri. The autopsy was conducted at the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) under the supervision of a medical board.
Earlier in the day, police confirmed that a medical board has been constituted to conduct the post-mortem. Sagar Preet Hooda, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), told a press conference that based on the report, new charges may be added against the five accused arrested in the case.
A case has been registered against the accused for culpable homicide not amounting to death, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy. Police had earlier said that the victim’s body was sent to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri for post-mortem. Later, police sources said that the body has been shifted to MAMC.
A 20-year-old woman was killed when her scooty was hit by a car in Sultanpuri in outer Delhi on Sunday and her body was dragged under the vehicle for 12 km. The victim, who was the sole breadwinner of her family, is survived by an ailing mother and six siblings. The victim’s mother alleged that the police was trying to “make it look like an accident” as she expressed dissatisfaction over the handling of the case.
According to the police, the victim’s leg got stuck in one of the wheels of the car and she was dragged away. A video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing the woman’s body without clothes and with broken legs. However, the authenticity of the video could not be verified. The footage also claimed that the victim was raped and killed, but police said it was an accident. Protests broke out in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri on Monday, with locals accusing the police of trying to pass off a rape case as an accident.
The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the city police in connection with the incident. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the incident the “rarest of the rarest of crimes” and demanded strict punishment for those behind it, while Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said his head hung in shame over the “inhuman” crime. Sources said the LG also directed the police to ensure that the accused are treated according to law, irrespective of their socio-economic status or political affiliation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also directed the Special Commissioner of Delhi Police to submit a detailed report about the horrific incident.