Investigation into the Delhi hit-and-run case reveals that the victim, Anjali Singh, was accompanied by another woman. She fled the scene after a car hit their scooter
The Delhi hit-and-run case has sent shockwaves throughout the nation. As the case unravels, it has now been revealed that the 20-year-old woman, who was dragged under a car for at least two hours before she was found dead in the early hours of 1 January, was not alone. She was accompanied by another woman.
Why did the pillion rider flee?
The victim, Anjali Singh, was riding the scooter while the friend was pillion before it was hit by Maruti Suzuki Baleno with five drunk men in Delhi’s Sultanpuri. The other woman, identified as Nidhi, did not sustain any major injuries. However, Singh’s leg got stuck in the car’s axle and she was dragged for around 13 kilometres.
Nidhi fled the spot after the accident and is now being questioned by the police. She was terrified after the crash. Investigators, who are recording her statement, said that she escaped as she feared she would get caught in legal hassles.
Nidhi will now be an eyewitness in the case. “She is cooperating with the police in the investigation. In CCTV footage, Nidhi was seen accompanying the victim just before the incident,” said special police commissioner Sagar Preet Hooda, according to a report in Hindustan Times.
Also read: Nightmare of Indian Streets: When is it most risky to be on the road?
What do we know about Nidhi?
Police, who were tracing the route Singh took before the mishap, realised that she was not alone. The probe revealed that the two women were returning from a New Year Party at a hotel in the Rohini sector.
Footage from the CCTV camera outside the hotel shows the two women – Singh dressed in pink and Nidhi wearing something read. They can be seen having a squabble and lashing out at each other. The women were reportedly asked by the hotel staff to leave because of their loud argument.
“They were fighting and abusing each other, that is why the manager asked them to go. They left on their scooty,” an employee of the hotel told NDTV.
The hotel manager told the police that Singh and Nidhi had checked into his hotel. “They went downstairs and started fighting, after which both of them went on a scooty,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
Protests have erupted in Delhi after the horrific accident with demonstrators demanding justice for the victim. PTI
Nidhi was riding the scooter while Singh was seated at the back. After covering some distance, the two women exchanged seats. It was Singh who was in the rider’s seat when the car rammed into the two-wheeler.
Police saw Nidhi’s name in the hotel register and then traced her down. In a statement, the friend reportedly told the police that after the accident Singh was dragged under the car’s wheel. Nidhi said that she was flung away from the vehicle.
According to her, the car driver was to be blamed for the accident.What are the accused saying?
Five men, who were in the car, have been arrested. They admitted that they were drunk when the mishap took place. The accused, identified as Manoj Mittal, Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan and Mithun, said that the woman was driving rashly and it led to the crash.
They panicked and drove away unaware that they were dragging the victim.
The man behind the wheel, Deepak Khanna, reportedly told his friends that “something was stuck in the car”. But the others asked him to drive on, sources told NDTV.
What has the investigation revealed so far?
Singh’s body was found in Delhi’s Khanjawala without clothes and with a broken back. The post-mortem was completed on Monday and it reported that no sexual assault was committed.
“Shock and Haemorrhage as a result of antemortem injury to the head, spine, left femur, both lower limbs. All injuries produced by blunt force impact and possible with vehicular accident and dragging,” the report said.
Police sources told News18 that it was not only the men in the car but Singh and Nidhi were also under the influence of alcohol.
Singh’s body has now been handed over to her family for cremation. They are said to be satisfied with the autopsy report.
With inputs from agencies
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