Delhi Police has arrested a 40-year-old woman for allegedly driving one of the vehicles that ran over a 26-year-old dietician in South Delhi’s Saket on Monday. Four days after the incident was reported, police made the first arrest in the case on Thursday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, south district, Ishwar Singh, said, “Preeti Singh, a 40-year-old woman and a resident of Saket, was arrested.”
Varnita Garg, a junior dietician working with Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute (PSRI), was hit by two cars on July 31. She was hit by two vehicles, being driven at high speed within a span of a few seconds, a senior police officer said.
A security guard, who was walking behind her told police that two cars — an SUV and a Mahindra Scorpio — were being driven rashly and in a zig-zag manner.
The SUV hit Garg and she was flung in the air for 20 metres, police officer said. She was then run over by a Scorpio. Both the vehicles drove off after hitting her. One of the onlookers managed to note down the three digits of the Scorpio’s registration number and handed it over to police.
“Preeti was driving the Scorpio that ran over the dietician. A pedestrian had only noted down three digits, 311, of the car and told us that it was a black Scorpio," said the DCP.
After this clue, police went through records of owners of Black Scorpios and traced Singh whose mobile phone was found to be active at the location around the time of the incident, police said.
However, police don't have any clue of the first car that hit Garg. They are questioning locals and trying to find CCTV footages that could give them clues of the errant driver.
The guard, who saw the accident, had also claimed that it seemed that the two cars were racing. However, those claims are being investigated, police said.
The victim is in a critical condition and is on ventilator at the AIIMS Trauma Centre. She is the only earning member of her family. She had joined the institute around two years back after her father's death.