As Delhiites seethe with rage over the horrific death of a 20-year-old woman allegedly dragged by a car for around 12 km for an hour in the National Capital, the Delhi Police is awaiting the autopsy report to further probe any possibility of premeditated murder and sexual assault. The accused have confessed to be drunk and having borrowed the car two hours before the incident happened, according to the FIR.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered a detailed enquiry into the incident and has entrusted Special Commissioner Shalini Singh with the probe.
Earlier, the autopsy was conducted at Maulana Azad Medical College under the supervision of a medical board set up on Monday to ascertain the cause of death even as a city court sent the five accused to a three-day police remand.
Addressing a press conference, Special Commissioner of Police Sagar Preet Hooda said fresh charges could be added against the five arrested accused on the basis of the post-mortem report.
The AAP has demanded the resignation of Lieutenant Governor VS Saxena over the law and order situation.
Sources in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on Monday claimed that they didn’t find any blood stain inside the car or on its seats. “FSL team found traces of blood only on the tyre of the car,” sources added.
The Delhi LG instructed Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to probe every angle and invoke the strictest possible sections of the IPC against the accused.
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 video purportedly showing the woman’s body without clothes and broken legs has also surfaced on social media.
The accused have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy, according to police.
“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 CCTV footage and digital evidence,” Hooda told reporters. “The forensic examination of the vehicle is also being done.” he added.
The victim’s family is being updated about the investigation and has been assured that the police will gather all evidence to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment, the officer said.
“The FSL team also visited the crime scene where the body of the girl was found and collected samples from the spot. When the FSL team inspected the car, there was no blood inside or on the car’s seats. They only found the blood on the tyre,” said the source.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed it the “rarest of rare crime” and demanded the strictest punishment for those behind the incident, while L-G VK Saxena said his head hung in shame over the “inhuman” crime. Later, in the day, Kejriwal said he spoke to Saxena about the incident.
“Spoke to Hon’ble LG on Kanjhawala incident. Requested him to take exemplary action against culprits, strictest sections of IPC shud be slapped against them. No leniency should be shown even if they have high political connections. He assured that he will take strong action,” he tweeted.
The incident led to a political slugfest between the AAP and the BJP. The AAP attacked the BJP alleging that one of the accused in the Sultanpuri car accident case — Manoj Mittal — is linked to it and also attacked the Delhi Lieutenant Governor for being “negligent” in the matter.
AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj shared a video with media claiming that a hoarding outside the Sultanpuri Police Station, where the accused is currently lodged, bears the picture of Mittal. On the other hand, several other AAP leaders and workers gathered outside Saxena’s residence at Civil Lines and demanded his resignation.
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.
Protesting 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?”
According to police, the victim’s leg got entangled in one of the wheels of the car and she was dragged for several kilometres.
“A case under IPC sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) has been registered against Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26) and Manoj Mittal,” he said.
The FIR said that a PCR call was received at about 3:24 am on January 1 at PS Kanjhawala ( Rohini District). The caller claimed “Ek Baleno gaadi grey colour jo Qutubgarh ki side jaa rahi hai or usmei ek dead body bandhi hue hai jo niche latki hue hai (A grey Baleno car is travelling towards Qutubgarh and there is dead body hanging off the lower part of the car)”.
The caller also told the police about the registration number of the vehicle. The police alerted staff deployed at pickets and efforts were started to trace the vehicle.
Deepak Dahiya, who claims to be an eyewitness to the incident, said that 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,” Deepak 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 Kanjahwala 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.