Kanjhawala death case: Car that hit woman, dragged her was borrowed; accused were drunk, says FIR

Kanjhawala death case: The accused have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy. Police had earlier said the victim`s body was sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri for post-mortem. Later, police sources said the body had been shifted to MAMC.

New Delhi: The accused who allegedly hit a 20-year-old woman while she was returning home on her scooty with their car in New Year and dragged her body for over an hour through the streets of west Delhi had borrowed the Maruti Baleno car from a close friend hours before the shocking incident took place, the FIR filed in the case stated. According to the FIR, the accused have confessed that they were intoxicated at the time of the incident. After hitting the woman, who fell from her scooty, they apparently panicked and fled from the scene.

The woman, identified as Anjali Singh, was returning from work around 2 am when the horrific accident took place. After falling from her scooty, the girl tangled in the undercarriage of the car and was dragged for nearly 13 km before the occupants apparently became aware of it, the FIR read.

According to the police, the Maruti Baleno car was borrowed twice. Its owner, Lokesh, had loaned it to Ashutosh, who loaned it to his friends Amit and Deepak Khanna. “Two of the four accused - Deepak Khanna &Amit Khanna - borrowed the car from one of their friends at around 7 pm on December 31, 2022, and parked the car back at his house at around 5 am on January 1, 2023,” the FIR said.

Deepak Khanna and Amit Khanna later revealed to their friend that they had hit a girl on her scooty and fled from the accident spot and reached Kanjhawala, They also admitted that they were drunk at the time of the incident, according to the FIR.

The FIR also stated 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 in the back seat of the car. After fleeing from the accident spot, they stopped the car near village Jaunti on Kanjhawala Road, where they found the victim woman's body stuck under the car, the FIR read further.

Meanwhile, forensic experts earlier on Monday conducted the post-mortem of the girl whose body was dragged for nearly 13 kilometres under a car after it hit her scooter in outer Delhi's Sultanpuri. The autopsy was conducted under the supervision of a medical board at the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC). 

Earlier in the day, police confirmed that a medical board had been constituted to conduct the post-mortem. Based on the report, fresh charges could be added against the five accused arrested in connection with the case, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sagar Preet Hooda said at a press conference.

The accused have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy. Police had earlier said the victim's body was sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri for post-mortem. Later, police sources said the body had been shifted to MAMC. 

The 20-year-old woman died after her scooty was hit by a car and her body was dragged under the vehicle for 12 kilometres in outer Delhi's Sultanpuri on Sunday. The victim, who was the sole bread earner of her family, left behind an ailing mother and six siblings. The victim's mother alleged that police were trying to "make it look like an accident" as she expressed dissatisfaction with their handling of the case.

According to police, the victim's leg got entangled in one of the wheels of the car and she was dragged around. A video purportedly showing the woman's body without clothes and broken legs has surfaced on social media. However, the veracity of the video could not be verified. The footage also led to claims that the victim was raped and killed, but police said it was an accident. Protests erupted in outer Delhi's Sultanpuri on Monday with locals accusing the police of trying to cover up a rape case by treating it 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 termed the incident the "rarest of rare crimes" and demanded the strictest punishment for those behind it, while Lt Governor V K Saxena said his head hung in shame over the "inhuman" crime. The LG also directed the police to ensure that the accused are treated as per law, irrespective of their socio-economic standing or political affiliations, sources said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also directed the Special Delhi Police Commissioner to submit a detailed report about the horrific incident.