Kirti Nagar cabbie attacked: With four digits and little else, police track down five attackers

During treatment, doctors had to amputate Pawan’s right arm.

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While recording the statements of eye-witnesses, police managed to get the last four digits on the number plate of the assailants’ car.

“The police shared the last four digits with the transport authority and got the address of the registered owner. A raid was immediately conducted on the address given in the records, which led them to a house in Punjabi Bagh. But investigators realised that the car was still registered to the first owner, though it had been sold multiple times in the last few years,” said police sources.

The police team then started digging deep into the records of challan, or traffic fines, imposed on the car. With some help from the traffic police, investigators learnt that 12 challans had been issued on the car in the last ten years, said sources.

But this trail too seemed headed to a dead end. Since all the challans had been paid on the spot, the address of the car owner was not mentioned in any of the receipts.

The investigating team finally caught a break when they spotted a name — Riyasat Ali — in one such receipt, said sources.

“Police approached the concerned motor license officer (MLO) and found details of Ali’s driving license, including his address. A team was sent to his house at Prayog Vihar in Hari Nagar, but the accused had fled,” said police sources.

While police are looking for Ali and two of his associates, two of the men allegedly involved in the attack have already been detained with help from local informers.

Police believe that Ali, who works as a butcher, attacked Pawan with a sharp-edged weapon that he used in his trade.

Ali had moved an anticipatory bail application, which was dismissed by a Delhi court on Tuesday.

Incidentally, though as many as eight CCTV cameras were installed at the CNG station, not a single one was working at the time of the attack. “After reaching the spot, police checked the DVR of all the CCTV footage and found that the recording system didn’t work. We have seized the DVR and sent it for forensic tests,” said a senior police officer.