Law students held for death of man in accident in UP, had taken judge’s car without permission

Three law students have been arrested for the death of a food delivery executive here who was killed after his motorcycle was hit by the official car of an Uttar Pradesh judge, Noida Police said Tuesday.

The men, aged between 20 and 22 years, are friends with the son of a family court judge posted in Gautam Buddh Nagar and had taken the car without his or his family's permission, police said.

The Toyota Corolla car bore a "district judge" sticker and is registered in the name of Registrar, Allahabad High Court. It was officially being used by Manjeet Singh Sheoran, Principal Judge, Family Court, Gautam Buddh Nagar, according to a police officer.

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Those held in the case have been identified as Suyash Mishra, Harshvardhan, and Rubal – all three law students at a college in Noida Sector 62 and friends of the judge's son Vaibhav Sheoran, the official said.

The 27-year-old Zomato delivery executive Parvindar Kumar was near Parthala Chowk when the Toyota Corolla car hit his motorcycle around 1.30 am on Monday. Kumar was taken to a private hospital in Bisrakh area but was pronounced dead on arrival, the police said.

The occupants of the car had also fled the spot after the crash, leaving the damaged vehicle behind, according to the police.

"Suyash Mishra, the key accused, who was driving the judge's official car at the time of the incident has been arrested," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ashutosh Dwivedi told PTI. A Noida Police spokesperson said the delivery executive had got hit by the "negligently-driven car, causing him severe injuries that led to his death on the spot."

Mishra, a native of Gwalior district in Madhya Pradesh, was arrested from his current residence in Shakti Khand area of adjoining Ghaziabad district, the official said.

While Mishra has been charged with rash driving and causing death by negligence, the other two have been booked for causing breach of trust (by taking the judge's car without permission), the police said.

An FIR in the case was lodged at the Noida Sector 113 police station over a complaint from the deceased's brother. It was lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 304A (death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving).

Sector 113 police station in-charge Pramod Kumar said the three students had come to the home of their friend (the judge's son) on Christmas and were returning to Ghaziabad late night when the incident took place.

"They had not informed the judge's family about taking their car. En route, while Mishra drove it the other two fell asleep. After the crash all three fled the spot and Mishra told police that they did it out of fear of being beaten up by any passerby on the road,” Kumar told PTI.

Harshvardhan and Rubal were apprehended from their residence in Ghaziabad and have been booked under IPC 406 (criminal breach of trust), Bisrakh Police Station In-charge Anil Kumar Rajpoot said.