Tightening the noose on the accused in the Mercedes hit & run case, the Delhi Police on Saturday decided to seek legal counselling about going to court and asking for the teenager’s remand as the charge in the case has been changed from IPC Section 304 A (causing death by negligence), which is bailable, to Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), which is non-bailable. The step has been taken in view of the past record of negligent driving by the accused who knocked dead 32-year-old Siddhartha Sharma with the vehicle in North Delhi’s Civil lines area on Monday who is learnt to have turned 18 years on Friday.
The Delhi Police is verifying the age of the accused to decide whether he should be presented before the Juvenile Justice Board or the duty magistrate.
However, the magistrate, while remanding Manoj Aggarwal the car owner and father of the teenager in a day’s police custody under the charge of abetment to culpable homicide, disapproved of slapping the accused with culpable homicide, but will take a final call after hearing the police’s argument on Sunday.
Aggarwal will be confronted with a range of questions, mostly surrounding the mystery regarding the man who approached police on the day of the incident, claiming to be his driver, and took responsibility of the act but later retracted. More charges can be slapped on him depending upon the disclosures during interrogation, an official privy to the investigation said.
“It has emerged that it was not the first offence of rash and negligent driving by this accused. In the past too he was found driving in a rash and negligent way, thereby causing a road accident with another vehicle,” DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.
last year, the accused was challaned thrice for over-speeding in April and June and wrong parking in February. “In view of these facts, the death of Siddharth Sharma is a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and the teenager’s father did not take a single step, prohibiting him from taking the vehicle.
This is an act of criminal omission, thereby abetting the crime of the said juvenile,” police said.
The Civil lines incident took place on Monday when Sharma was trying to cross a road near ludlow Castle School and the speeding Mercedes hit him. The car was being driven at a speed of at least 80 km per hour and Sharma was flung several feet into the air by the impact of the crash and landed around 15 metres away from where he stood. After the incident, a group of youths stepped out of the vehicle and fled the spot, abandoning the car there.