It’s been over one year since Manjula alias Mahi (38), a resident of Banaswadi, ploughed her SUV (a Toyota Fortuner) into a group of construction labourers sleeping on a pavement, killing one and injuring four, in Kalyanagar near Banaswadi.
Mahi was with a friend and both fled, leaving behind the damaged car.
Party acquaintance
When the Banaswadi traffic police contacted the vehicle owner, he said a friend had borrowed it. Consequently, the police picked up Ravi, a businessman, who confessed that he was in the car with Mahi, an acquaintance he had met at a party at a farmhouse before both decided to go for a drive.
Armed with this information, the police got a picture of Mahi taken at the party and later went to her house to seize her passport, booking a case against both her and the prime accused, Ravi. They later learnt that Mahi’s family had disowned her.
When Mahi disappeared into thin air, the police declared her an absconder and handed over the case to the Central Crime Branch. Since then it has been a cat and mouse game, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) D. Devraj.
Mirror as clue
But not all hit-and-runs remain unsolved. Sadashivanagar traffic police cracked one last January when a pedestrian was run over in the pre-dawn hours.
B.N. Suresh (43), a construction labourer was returning home after work, died when an unknown vehicle hit him on Ramana Maharshi Road. The only clue police had of the suspect vehicle was a rear view mirror.
A team led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Krishna Murthy and Constable N.D. Raju did some astute investigation, finding out that the car was a Nano and shortlisted 10 of them. With some more paperwork and legwork, Constable Raju tracked down a yellow Nano. parked in a Rajajinagar garage to fix the mirror. The car owner initially claimed to have hit a tree but sustained interrogation led to confession.
Here too, as in the Audi case, the car belonged to a businessman but it was his son, Marularadhya G.S., a college student, who was driving at the time. He was arrested and is now on bail.
