Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case: Delhi Police on Tuesday added a murder charge against the accused in the hit-and-run case in which a 20-year-old woman Anjali Singh was dragged to death while trapped under a car in the national capital.
Singh was killed in the early hours of the New Year after her scooter was hit by a car which dragged her for 12 kilometres. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the accident.
"In the Sultanpuri incident dated 01.01.23 (FIR No. 02/2023, dated 01.01.2023, u/s 279/304A/304/120B/34 IPC) after collection of Physical, Oral, Forensic and other Scientific evidence, the Police has added Section 302 IPC, in place of section 304 IPC. Further investigation in the case is in progress," police statement read.
The family of the victim has been demanding to add a murder charge against the accused.
Delhi court grants bail to Ashutosh Bhardwaj
A local court here on Tuesday granted bail to Ashutosh Bhardwaj, an accused in the case. "The applicant or accused Ashutosh is granted bail on executing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety in the like amount...," Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar said.
Noting that Bhardwaj was not present in the car and his role emerged only after the incident, the court said there was no evidence to show any "prior meeting of minds" with the other co-accused to commit the act.
Bhardwaj's counsel filed a bail plea in the Sessions Court after a Metropolitan Magistrate dismissed his application last week.
"At this stage, there seems to be no document in the form of call detail record or CCTV footage etc produced by the investigating agency to show any prior meeting of minds of the accused or applicant Ashutosh (Bhardwaj) with the other co-accused persons to commit the act before he received the alleged call from co-accused Ankush at 4.56 am (on January 1)," the judge said.
The accused has been in judicial custody since January 5 and is no more required for custodial interrogation, he added. The judge, however, clarified that he was not expressing an opinion on the merits of the case.
The court noted that Bhardwaj had provided the car to accused Amit Khanna, who did not have a valid driver's licence and, according to the call detail records collected by the investigating officer, a call was made by co-accused Ankush to Bhardwaj around 4.56 am on the date of the incident.
"Perusal of the record further shows that the role alleged by the investigating agency to the accused seems to have come forth only after the act and he is not alleged to be present in the vehicle at the time of the act and there seems to have been no meeting of minds with any of the other co-accused with the accused Ashutosh (Bhardwaj) prior to the call he allegedly received from co-accused Ankush," the court said.
The court noted that according to the police, Bhardwaj was the custodial owner of the car and he did not reveal all the facts to the investigating agency and instead allegedly misled the investigators that co-accused Deepak was driving.
"His role is alleged to be regarding helping in the disappearance of the evidence of offence and of helping in harbouring or protecting the accused persons with the intention of screening the accused persons. All these above allegations seem to have come forth only after the act allegedly done by the co-accused persons," the court said.
Bhardwaj's advocate Shilpesh Chaudhary said the accused came to know about the incident as disclosed by the co-accused when they reached his house and that the alleged offence was bailable in nature.
Anjali Singh was killed in the early hours of New Year's day after her scooter was hit by a car, which dragged her for more than 12 kilometres from Sultanpur to Kanjhawala.
The police arrested Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26) and Manoj Mittal in the case on January 2. Later, they zeroed in on Bhardwaj, who was arrested four days later.
Ankush, another accused, surrendered on January 6 and was released on bail the next da
Delhi Police suspends 11 cops on duty in PCR vans, at pickets on fateful night
Earlier, Delhi Police on January 13 suspended 11 of its personnel who were on PCR and picket duty on the route a 20-year-old woman was killed after being dragged under a car, officials said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday directed the Delhi Police to suspend all its personnel deployed on the route following a report on the accident submitted by an inquiry committee headed by Special Commissioner of Police Shalini Singh.
"As approved by the competent authority, a total of 11 policemen of Rohini district deployed on the route at PCRs and pickets have been suspended in view of the Sultanpuri incident," a senior police officer said.
Five personnel on two pickets and six personnel on three PCR vans have been suspended. Of them, two are sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors, four head constables and one constable, the officer added.
Officials in the ministry had said the MHA also directed the city police to serve show-cause notices to the supervisory officers of the PCR vans and police pickets over their alleged dereliction of duties. Disciplinary action will also be taken against the police personnel who were on duty that night, they had said.
The MHA has directed the Delhi Police to file the chargesheet in the case as soon as possible so that the culprits are punished. The police have also been ordered to ensure that there is no let-up in the investigation and fortnightly reports on progress in the probe are submitted to the MHA.
