New Delhi: The friend of a 20-year-old deceased Delhi woman, who died after being hit by a car and dragged for several miles on the night of December 31, has claimed that the driver and other occupants of the vehicle were fully aware of the incident and even heard her screaming after she came under the wheels. Anjali was with her friend Nidhi on the scooty while both were returning home before their two-wheeler collided head-on with a Maruti Baleno car. Due to the impact, Nidhi was tossed off the pillion seat while Anjali got stuck beneath the car and dragged for several kilometres which eventually resulted in her painful death.
“After the collision, Anjali went under the car and I was thrown to the ground. The car did not stop and moved forward with Anjali stuck beneath, shouting for help. A few meters away, the car stopped. They (car occupants) might have felt something was stuck under the car and they reversed… again moved the car forward twice… and then drove away,” Nidhi, an eyewitness of the incident, said while recalling it.
She (deceased woman) was in drunken state but insisted on driving two-wheeler. After car hit us, I fell to one side while my friend got stuck under the car. Men in car knew she was stuck under their car. I didn’t inform police, went home:Nidhi eyewitness & deceased woman’s friend pic.twitter.com/qUi6EhV36i— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2023
“… no songs were being played in the car. They did it intentionally, and they knew she was under the car. My home is not far from the site of the accident. When I reached home, I was in fear and hopeless… I narrated the incident to my mother,” said Nidhi.
Kanjhawala death case | After the car hit us, I fell to one side. My friend got stuck under the car. The men in the car knew the woman was stuck under their car. After the accident, I didn’t inform the police but went home: Nidhi, the main eyewitness &friend of the deceased woman pic.twitter.com/g0aOhIhHoz— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2023
Nidhi – who is an important witness in the case – today recorded her statement in presence of the magistrate, said police officials. Earlier, the CCTV footage outside the Oyo Hotel was also recovered by the police where the victim and Nidhi were seen arguing on December 31, 2022, before the incident.
“We were coming home after the party. She was bit drunk, I had asked her to hand me over the scooty key but she wanted to drive. We were arguing on who will drive the scooty,” said Nidhi, who also sustained minor injuries on her left hand in the incident.
As per sources, the accused drove the car for 90 minutes with Anjali stuck under it. The police have arrested five persons, who were in the car when the incident took place. They have been identified as Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mitthu and Manoj Mittal.
Amit (25) works with SBI Cards in Uttam Nagar, Krishan (27) works at the Spanish Culture Centre, Mitthu (26) is a hairdresser at Naraina, while Manoj Mittal (27) is a ration dealer in Sultanpuri who is also a BJP worker.
The five men in the car, who are now under arrest, have told the police that they had panicked after hitting the scooty and had no idea that the woman was stuck in the undercarriage. They said they were heavily drunk and were returning from Haryana’s Murthal. They also claimed that the music inside the car was loud and they heard nothing.
The 20-year-old, breadwinner for a family of eight, was cremated today amid tight security.
Delhi hit & drag case | “We want that all the five accused should be hanged, that’s what we want. Public won’t sit quietly just because my daughter has been cremated,” says the mother of the Delhi woman who died after she was dragged under a car on January 1 pic.twitter.com/O20crn2FzJ
— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2023
The post-mortem report has ruled out sexual assault on the victim – a claim made by the family in view of her unclothed body. Her clothes had ripped off and her skin was peeled when the body was found, possibly after being dragged for several kilometres, the police said. The preliminary post-mortem report indicated that she died due to head injury and shock and her body bore sharp blunt trauma injuries.