Murthal trip gone wrong: Kin of accused in Anjali Singh case recall fateful night

All five accused – Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Manoj Mittal, Krishan, and Mithun – have been arrested and sent to three-day police remand. Deepak was driving at the time, police said, adding that the men were inebriated at the time.

Video grab from CCTV footage of the car that hit Anjali and dragged her for several kilometres. (PTI)

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Days after 20-year-old Anjali Singh was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Sultanpuri, families of the accused said they were unaware of the woman being dragged for over 10 km and thought it was a “simple accident”.

All five accused – Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Manoj Mittal, Krishan, and Mithun – have been arrested and sent to three-day police remand. Deepak was driving at the time, police said, adding that the men were inebriated at the time.

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On Tuesday, as police questioned the accused and took them to recreate the sequence of events at the crime scene, their families in Mangolpuri said the men had borrowed the car from an acquaintance only hours before the accident.

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Apart from Manoj, who runs a ration shop and is a BJP functionary, the other men are all in their early 20s and live close to each other in Mangolpuri. The FIR states that Deepak and Amit took the Baleno car from one Ashutosh, who lives in Rohini.

“We don’t know how to react to the allegations against Deepak. All boys go out and party… His friends had planned a trip to Murthal. They had also called me. I think they left around 8-9 pm. Later, they were in Rohini for some time. I’m not sure what happened after that. Deepak came home the next morning and said they got into an accident and damaged Ashutosh’s car. I scolded him. I didn’t know all this had happened,” said Deepak’s brother Sonu. Deepak drives a Gramin Sewa auto.

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The men left around 9 pm and reached Murthal, where they stayed for some time and returned to Mangolpuri around midnight.

Police said the men were driving around when they hit Anjali’s scooter.

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“We are scared of everything they have been saying on the TV. We knew they all left together and came back around 4-5 am. Krishan said he wants to hang out with his friends and we didn’t say anything. They came back the next day and though Kishan and Mithun mentioned the accident, they didn’t share details. Before we could understand anything, the police came. Kishan wasn’t driving. He was in the backseat,” said Kashi Nath who sells chole kulche, father of Kishan who worked at the Spanish Culture Centre in CP.

Meanwhile, Special Commissioner of Police Shalini Singh visited the scene of the crime and conducted an inspection of the 12 km stretch from Mangolpuri to Kanjhawala. Singh has been asked by the Home Ministry to submit a detailed report on the case. She inspected the pickets, deployment sheets, chowkis, and safety on the road.

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