Forgot biscuits for his kids, so he went back: Friend of man killed in Delhi hit-and-run

A video of the incident was circulated on social media. In it, a red vehicle is seen hitting Girdhar, who was trying to cross the road in front of a Lexus showroom at Janpath. The driver, who works as a butler for an NRI, was arrested the same day.

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His friend, Sharafat Ali, said he was with him minutes before he died. “We were out for our morning tea around 7 am and Girdhar packed some for his wife and children. On our way back, he said he forgot to take biscuits for the kids. I insisted that he come back, but he said his kids are waiting for biscuits and went alone. I wish I could have stopped him. After 5-10 minutes, people started screaming and I found that my friend was severely injured. He later died at the hospital,” said Ali, who has known Girdhar for nearly 10-15 years.

Girdhar’s elder brother, Jamna, said they were outside the house when they heard a shopkeeper screaming. “We rushed out and saw Girdhar lying on the road. The red jeep that hit him fled. I saw the CCTV footage, the driver did this intentionally. It can’t be an accident. We lost everything…,” he alleged.

Laadkumar, his niece, said he was a hard-working man but earned a meagre pay of Rs 800 a day: “They have been through a lot… Around a year back, maasi (Rekha) lost her fifth child… he died soon after birth. Their three-year-old son has also not been keeping well for a few months. We took him to two-three doctors but he keeps getting high fever and has difficulty breathing. We are all worried. Maasi hasn’t eaten anything and is inconsolable.”

Meanwhile, police said the accused driver, Arun, was booked under sections of rash driving and causing death by negligence.

DCP (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth said, “We had received a call around 8 am from Janpath Road about the accident. The injured man was shifted to RML hospital but was declared dead on arrival. We conducted raids and found that the vehicle used in the offence was rented and arrested the driver. Arun works as a butler for an NRI who is staying in New Delhi for a month.”

During questioning, police said Arun confessed he fell asleep while driving. “We checked if he had any connection with the deceased but there’s nothing. The two are strangers and it was an accident,” said an officer.

Police said while Arun was in the jeep, the NRI was in a white Mercedes and he came back to check on Girdhar minutes after the incident. “The NRI was in another car with a driver. When he realised a pedestrian got into an accident because of his butler, he came back to help. He has some stock and investment business and has been staying at a hotel in the capital for a month,” said an officer who did not want to be named.

Police said Arun also works at the hotel and was hired to help the NRI with his personal and official work around the city.