3 min readNew DelhiJan 6, 2023 08:54 AM IST
First published on: Jan 6, 2023 at 01:56 AM IST
There was no communication between nine multi-purpose vans (MPVs) dispatched to look for a Baleno car, which was dragging Anjali Singh’s body for over 10 km, while two vans did not even cross the jurisdiction of their police stations concerned. These are findings of a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Delhi Police operations unit, The Indian Express has learnt.
Following the 20-year-old woman’s death, Home Minister Amit Shah had directed Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to submit a fact-finding inquiry into the incident. Sources said Special CP Shalini Singh is conducting the inquiry and the operations unit has submitted its initial report to her.
As per the unit, no accident-related call was received in the Outer district. The first such call was received by Rohini district police at 2.18 am from one Rohit. “He said there was an accident involving a child (bacha), who was hit by a Baleno. A broadcast message was flashed in the police control room at 2.23 am to locate the car and three MPVs were dispatched. After driving around for around 1.2 km, one of the MPVs reported engine trouble and the other two vans continued their search. They reached out to the caller again… after failing to locate the car, the call was closed at 3.11 am,” a senior police officer said.
“At 3.24 am, another PCR call was made by one Deepak, who said he saw a girl being dragged by a Baleno car. Five MPVs were deployed on this route. A broadcast message was also flashed in the PCR and seniors were alerted about the incident. Deepak said he was chasing the car and shared some of the locations. Several police personnel then called Deepak and at 3.35 am, he shared the car’s registration number. All MPVs were alerted about this. At 4.04 am, DCP (Rohini) informed the control room about his presence in the area,” the officer said.
The officer said that at 4.11 am, they got yet another call from one Sahil informing them of a body in Kanjhawala area and police rushed to the spot. One more MPV was dispatched. “Initial inquiry revealed that one MPV drove around 21 km, another around 15-16 km, while two only covered 5-6 km. There was no communication between them and they did not inform the control room to send more MPVs to locate the car,” sources said.
On allegations of delay in arrival of PCR vans and calls not being answered, Special CP (law and order of southern zone) Sagar Preet Hooda said on Thursday that an internal inquiry is being conducted. “It will be looked into whether it was human error or some system glitch. Police deployment is more at places where footfall is more,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Delhi Police chief had directed all 15 district DCPs to brief their night patrolling staff, especially MPVs. “Arora told them that after attending any call, they should follow the traditional rule of PCR and not bother about ‘jurisdiction’ while performing their duty,” an officer said.
Video grab from CCTV footage of the car that hit Anjali and dragged her for several kilometres. (PTI) 
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