Kanjhawala hit-and-run: Accused intentionally dragged Anjali, say police in chargesheet

Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal Thursday took cognizance of the 800-page chargesheet and posted the matter for scrutiny and committal of the case to the sessions court on April 18.

Earlier, police had not invoked the murder charge. In their chargesheet, police stated that they invoked the murder section later as during investigation, it was allegedly found that the guilty intent of accused persons became clear since they had knowledge of the fact that the woman was dragged by the vehicle. The accused persons “stopped the offending vehicle about 500-600 metres from the place of incident” and three accused persons got out and “checked whether the victim was still stuck under the car or not”, police said in the chargesheet.

“The accused had ample opportunities to save the victim, but they intentionally and knowingly dragged her with the car so that she is killed,” the chargesheet stated.

It further stated that the accused persons “hit the victim and moved the car backwards and forwards and further dragged the victim for a very long distance…” The chargesheet stated that in “furtherance of their ill intention, plan and active participation, the accused persons finally killed her in gruesome manner”.

“The act of the accused persons was so imminently dangerous that it, in all probability, was sufficient to cause death, or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and the act of the accused persons was without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injuries,” it stated.

Police also relied on the statement of a key eyewitness, Nidhi, who was present at the spot when the incident took place. The eyewitness alleged that on January 1, around 1.30 am, she and Anjali were returning from a New Year’s party on the scooter when the Baleno car hit their vehicle. “Anjali fell on the left side of the car, exactly between the two tires… The car driver first drove his car back and forth… Anjali got stuck under the car and was crying loudly… They then drove their car very fast… the driver was dragging her. (I) kept shouting but (they) did not stop…,” the eyewitness told police.

The seven accused men have been identified as Manoj Mittal, Amit Khanna, Krishan alias Kalu, Mithun alias Arjun, Deepak Khanna, Ankush Khanna and Ashutosh Bhardwaj. Police invoked IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) against four accused — Amit, Krishan, Manoj and Mithun — who were seated in the car at the time.

During further investigation, two accused persons, Ashutosh (custodial owner of the offending car) and Ankush were also arrested in the case for giving false information about the driver to mislead the probe and also harboured the accused person by providing shelter at the house of co-accused Deepak. Thereafter, IPC sections 212 (harbouring offender) and 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) were also added in the case.