JOIN USA 25-year-old traffic constable was allegedly mowed down by an errant car driver after the policeman tried to stop him from violating a traffic diversion at west Delhi’s Zakhirpur Flyover at about 7:30 on Saturday.
The victim tried to save himself by clinging on to the bonnet of the car, but was thrown off after being dragged along for about 150 metres. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital sometime later. The accused Raman Kant was driving the Maruti Suzuki Ritz car and his two minor friends were with him at the time of the alleged incident. Kant has been arrested.
The victim Manna Ram was deployed on diversion duty along with another colleague Naresh. A traffic diversion is enforced every evening at nearby Motinagar Chowk between 7 pm and 9 pm.
Manna Ram saw the white Ritz car approaching from Punjabi Bagh side and signalled them to take the diversion. “Raman sped till the barricades manned by the traffic policemen and applied a sudden brake there. Despite Ram explaining to the trio in car that they must take another route, they insisted that they be allowed to pass straight,” said a senior police officer in the traffic department.
This led to a confrontation between Ram and the other group and police said the constable was abused. Kant then allegedly entered the car and broke the barricades at a high-speed and headed straight. The constable tried to come in the way of the car to prevent the driver from proceeding further, but Kant allegedly ran over him.
“Ram hung on to the edge of car’s bonnet and tried to grab at the wipers, side mirrors or anything he could reach. But he was thrown off on the road 150 metres ahead as the car sped away,” said a senior police officer.
Soon, the car was being chased by a PCR van and its registration number was flashed in all police pickets in that area. Kant, a cab driver by profession, was arrested from his home in Shastri Nagar. The juveniles, who happened to be his neighbours, were also apprehended at his instance. The owner of the car had given his vehicle to a travel company where Kant works as a driver.
The deceased constable hails from Nagaur in Rajasthan and had joined Delhi Police in 2010. He was posted in traffic department of Patel Nagar circle in west Delhi.