9-year-old son of UP police officer killed in SUV hit & run, 2 arrested

The boy’s mother, Shweta Srivastava, is an additional superintendent of police (ASP) posted at the Special Investigation Team (SIT) unit of the Uttar Pradesh police. Naimish was the only child of Shweta and her husband, Abhinav Srivastava.

The police traced the accused with the help of CCTV footage.

Officers identified the arrested persons s 22-year-old Dev Shri Verma, a B.Tech student, and his friend Sarthak Singh (21), who is pursuing a law degree, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, Syed Ali Abbas.

Both residents of Indra Nagar locality in Lucknow. Dev’s family is in the jewellery business while Sarthak comes from a family with an agricultural background.

The police have seized the SUV involved in the incident.

DCP, Lucknow, Ashish Srivastava said the vehicle belongs to Dev’s uncle Anshul Verma, who runs a jewellery shop in Kanpur. Anshul Verma arrived in Lucknow on Monday.

He added that during investigation it came to light that Sarthak was driving the SUV when the incident took place. Anshul was sitting next to him in the vehicle.

The two accused have been booked under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), said a police officer.

According to the police, the accused told them that on Tuesday morning Dev took out his uncle’s SUV and was driving after picking Sarthak from his home.

“The two reached the area near Janeshwar Mishra Park to drive the vehicle at high speed. They were competing with each other,” said a police officer.

Around 5:30 am, the police were informed that a vehicle hit ASP Shweta Srivastava’s son. A police team reached the spot and later sent the body for postmortem.

During preliminary inquiry, the police came to know that Shweta Srivastava, a resident of Indra Nagar, took her son to the spot. A trainer was giving instructions to the victim when the SUV hit the boy from behind and sped away. The ASP took her son to a hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Later, the ASP registered a complaint at the local police station. Her husband Abhinav works in a bank in Gurgaon.