Accused aware of victim's body being dragged, could see it, prosecution tells court
Hit and drag case
New Delhi, Dec 9: The prosecution told a city court on Monday that the five occupants of the car, which hit and dragged a 20-year-old woman to death, were aware that her body was trapped under the vehicle and they could see it.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal, who remanded six accused in the case to 14 days' judicial custody, expressed displeasure over the delay in obtaining CCTV footages of the incident in which Anjali Singh was killed in the early hours of the new year day after being dragged underneath the car for 12 km.
Upon being asked about the findings from the custodial interrogation of the accused, the investigating officer (IO) said six new CCTV footages were obtained, accused persons confronted with each other, and the route of the car and timeline of the incident established.
He said in one clip, two of the occupants could be seen getting down and inspecting the vehicle to check if something was trapped underneath. It was at variance with their earlier claim that no one had alighted from the car to see if something was stuck under the vehicle.
"Two persons got down and inspected what was stuck in the wheels. They were well aware of what was stuck ," Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastava said.
The judge then asked whether the vehicle's occupants could see that the body was being dragged, to which the APP replied in the affirmative.
The APP, however, did not disclose the identity of the two accused in the open court proceedings.
Expressing displeasure over the delay in obtaining CCTV footage, the judge said: "Why can't the CCTV footage be obtained in one go? Why are you (the prosecution) waiting? Will you do it after it gets tampered?"
The judge also asked the IO about the number of CCTV cameras on the entire route. The IO told the court the footages from all cameras installed on the way are being analysed.
The prosecution also informed the court that around 20 witnesses had recorded their statements and a new witness, who was around 100 metres away from the spot of the accident, has joined the investigation.
On Monday, accused Ashutosh Bhardwaj filed a bail application which was posted for hearing on Tuesday.
Opposing the bail prayer, the APP said Bhardwaj had given his car to another co-accused who did not possess a driving licence.
Police had initially arrested Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26), and Manoj Mittal in the case last Monday.
On expiry of their three-day police custody, the court extended their custodial interrogation by four days on Thursday.
Later, they zeroed in on Ashutosh Bhardwaj, who was arrested on Friday, and remanded in police custody for three days.
Another accused Ankush Khanna surrendered before the police on Friday and he was granted bail on Saturday.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
