Mercedes hit-and-run case: Court sends accused's father to police custody

New Delhi: Delhi's Tis Hazari Court  on Saturday sent the father of the juvenile, who killed a man by hitting him with his Mercedes, to one-day police custody, according to ANI. 

On Friday, the father, Manoj Aggarwal was arrested under sections 109 and 304 of Indian Penal Code for allowing his minor son to drive.

Aggarwal has been charged with charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

The businessman 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.

Meanwhile, the investigating officer of the case was also changed on Friday after the victim Siddharth Sharma's sister met Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma and urged him to take strict action against the perpetrators.

Police are seeking legal counselling about going to a court and asking for the minor's remand too 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 was taken in view of the past record of negligent driving by the minor who is learnt to have turned 18 years yesterday.

"During investigation it emerged that it was not the first offence of rash and negligent driving by this accused juvenile. In the past too he was found driving in a rash and negligent way, thereby causing a road accident with another vehicle," police said.

Besides, according toanother report, the Delhi police is likely to seize the passport of the juvenile so as to prevent him from leaving the country. 

The case has been in the limelight ever since chilling CCTV footage of the Mercedes mowing down the man surfaced online.  

The incident took place on Monday when victim Sidharth Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School in Civil Lines 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.

(With agency inputs)