Taxi driver dragged to death under own car during robbery bid in Delhi

A 43-year-old taxi driver died after being dragged for more than two kilometres under the rear wheels of his own vehicle while resisting a carjacking attempt on a busy road in southwest Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, police said on Wednesday.

Hours after the incident, the Delhi Police claimed to have nabbed two carjackers -- Mehraj Salmani (33) and Asif (24) -- who pushed the deceased out of his car and fled to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh with the vehicle. Police said the stolen vehicle has also been recovered.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Manoj C said they arrested the accused from Meerut in the afternoon with the help of the Uttar Pradesh Police. "Both are carjackers and were previously involved in multiple cases of carjacking and robbery," he said.

"They have revealed that they boarded the taxi as passengers and after a while, threatened and pushed the driver out of the car with an intention of stealing the vehicle," the officer added.

A video purportedly showing the deceased being dragged under the car on Tuesday night has been widely shared on social media.

The video shows the deceased -- Bijender Shah -- stuck under the right rear side of his car and being dragged as the vehicle is driven at a high speed.

The video shows the driver slowing down near a crash barrier to get rid of the man's body and then taking a sudden left turn to avoid hitting a truck from behind.

Shah had bought the vehicle earlier this year and was the sole breadwinner of the family that comprises his wife and five children.

Police said they received a call about a man's body lying near the National Highway-8 service road in Vasant Kunj North at 11.30 pm on Tuesday, after which a police team was immediately dispatched.

They said both the accused are residents of Meerut. Salmani was previously involved in four criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh and two in Delhi.

Asif was previously involved in seven criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh and two in Delhi.

The DCP said the transit remand of both the accused have been taken from a Meerut court. They will be produced in a Delhi court on Thursday and police will seek their custody for further interrogation.

The officer said the accused were arrested with the help of technical surveillance and the human intelligence network of the police team.

They will be interrogated further once they are brought to Delhi, police said.

The incident comes as a grim reminder of a hit-and-run case in which a 20-year-old woman was dragged to death while she was trapped under a car in Delhi's Kanjhawala area on New Year's Day.