1 dead as SUV runs over 4 on road divider

No one was able to note down the registration number of the vehicle,though passersby identified it as an SUV.

In his complaint to police,56-year-old Bapu — the third person to be injured in the hit-and-run case — said: “We were asleep at the time of the incident. Suddenly,a speeding car from the Moolchand end climbed the road divider where we were sleeping. Suman was the first to come under its wheels. Then it hit the two children and me.”

“The driver didn’t try to stop or slow down the vehicle. He just accelerated and fled,” he said.

Police said16 beggars and ragpickers were on the central verge at the time of the incident.

“A passerby witnessed the accident and called police. When we reached the spot,Suman was bleeding heavily. She was a ragpicker and has been using the Lala Lajpat Rai Marg central verge to sleep at night for the past few months,” a police officer said.

“We took them to AIIMS Trauma Centre,where Suman was declared dead. Naru Hasan is critical,while the other two have been discharged,” the officer said.

Police said a case of rash and negligent driving and causing death by negligence has been registered at Hazrat Nizamuddin police station.

“No one was able to note down the registration number of the vehicle,though people described the car as an SUV. It is possible that the driver wanted to take a shortcut through the footpath to cross to the other side,instead of taking a U-turn under the flyover,” the police officer said.

Police said drivers often found the stretch tricky because they tend to miss the curve on the road after coming down the Moolchand flyover.

“Given the situation,especially at night when traffic is thin,there is a huge possibility of vehicles climbing on to the central verge,” an officer said.