Five held after two killed in Delhi hit-and-drag case

A car collided head-on with a scooter in Delhi's Keshav Puram and drove on, dragging along for a distance one of its two riders, whose head got stuck between its mangled bonnet and the windshield. Both the riders died of injuries.

The incident took place around 3 am on Friday when the victims were returning home on the two-wheeler after watching a movie, police officials said.

This comes weeks after a 20-year-old woman was killed in the early hours of the New Year after her scooter was hit by a car, which dragged her for 12 km from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala in the national capital.

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In Friday's accident, the Tata Zest car dragging the rider stuck on its bonnet and the scooter under its bumper was intercepted by police around 350 metres from the spot of the accident as it accelerated towards Inderlok in a bid to flee, the officials said.

Two of the car's five occupants were held, while the rest managed to flee but were apprehended later, a senior police official said, adding that all of them are students and were driving around after attending a wedding.

Police said all five were under the influence of alcohol.

They said the impact of the collision had flung the pillion rider of the scooter to the roof of the car and then he fell on the road.

Both the injured riders, Kailash Bhatnagar (41) of Shastri Nagar and Sumit Khari (21) of Loni in Ghaziabad, were rushed to a hospital. Bhatnagar was declared brought dead at the hospital, while Khari died during treatment, police said. The victims used to work at a jeans manufacturing unit.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said a police control room (PCR) van saw the incident and chased the offending vehicle down. It was intercepted at a distance of about 350 metres from the spot within 11 seconds and its driver Parveen Nagar alias Silli (20) of Trinagar and Diviansh Puri (20) of Shalimar Bagh were apprehended.

The other occupants of the car, Om Bhardwaj (19), Harsh Mudgal (19), and Devansh (19), were nabbed later, police said.

A case under IPC sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304A (causing death by negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 34 (common intension), and provisions of the Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules and the Motor Vehicles Act was registered at the Keshav Puram police station, the DCP said.

Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora visited the Keshav Puram police station on Saturday and praised the PCR staff for their timely, well-coordinated and swift response in the case, the officials said.

Arora felicitated Head Constable Surjeet Singh and Constable Ram Kishore with a cash reward of Rs 10,000 each, and Assistant Sub-Inspectors Ajab Singh and Vikas, Head Constable Amit and Constable Vikas with a cash reward of Rs 5,000 each for exemplary display of devotion towards duty, they said.