A Delhi Police constable allegedly ran over a toddler with his and injured his 60-year-old grandmother on NH-24 near Akshardham Temple on Sunday afternoon.
While the police have arrested and booked the accused Ashok for causing death by negligence, relatives of the victims said the act was intentional and another constable Pradeep was also involved in it. Both the cops are posted at the Pandav Nagar police station.
Medical examination of Ashok has confirmed that he was drunk, said the police.
Family members of the deceased Gopal, who was less than a year old, said they earned the ire of Ashok and Pradeep because they defied the cops’ order to serve fried fish to them. .
The family sustains itself by fishing and cultivating vegetables in the open fields alongside National Highway-24. They alleged that it has been a practice for the policemen to visit their shop to consume liquor and demand free snacks. They would silence any protest by issuing threats to close the vend down, they claimed.
“On Sunday, too, a couple of policemen in uniform made a similar demand. When we refused, one of them first ran over Gopal while reversing a Ritz car and then again while driving forward. His grandmother, too, sustained major injuries while trying to save his life,” said Gopal’s uncle Indal.
Other locals, some of whom claimed to be eyewitnesses, made these allegations.
They got hold of Ashok’s uniform and protested on NH-24 blocking the traffic for hours. The police said it was an accident. “It happened when Ashok was trying to reverse the vehicle. The child was playing behind the vehicle and was trapped under the wheels,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range) Sanjay Beniwal.
According to the police, it was Ashok who rushed the victims to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and he informed the Police Control Room. They also said Ashok was not on duty at the time of the incident.
“We have registered a case under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash and negligent driving) under the Indian Penal Code and are probing the matter,” said another police officer.
Gopal stayed with his parents Santosh and Anita and elder brother Kanhaiya on the Yamuna floodplains.
