Two days after a 20-year-old woman was dragged to death for over 12 kilometres in outer Delhi area on Sunday, the police have traced a friend, named Nidhi, who had been with her at the time of the accident but fled soon after.
According to Ms. Nidhi’s statement, she and Anjali had seen a car speeding towards them and it didn’t stop even after it hit Anjali. Had they stopped, Anjali would have survived, she reportedly said. She told the police that while they both fell after the car hit, only Anjali fell towards the car and she herself “left the spot fearing consequences”.
Special CP (law and order zone II) Sagar Preet Hooda said on Tuesday that Ms. Nidhi’s statement has been recorded under section 164 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) called this development “a significant one”.
According to the police, the two women had left from a hotel in Rohini’s sector 23 area before the accident happened. A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, dismissed the family’s claims that Anjali had gone to attend a work event for New Year day. “When we traced Anjali’s last location, we found that there was no banquet or a marriage hall but a hotel; from there, we gathered the leads regarding Nidhi,” the officer said.
According to Anil, hotel manager, the two women entered the hotel around 7.30 p.m. They were seen arguing as well. Around midnight, a few men allegedly joined them. “The night manager had asked them to not fight because they kept disturbing the other customers. They went downstairs and the two had arguments and kept abusing each other outside the hotel,” he said.
It was then that they reportedly left in a two-wheeler. CCTV footage showing the two women arguing outside the hotel around 1.30 am on Sunday has gone viral on social media.
Mr. Anil also claimed that the two women have visited the hotel before, booking a room in their name.
The police also interrogated the men who had been present at the hotel with the two women. Sources claimed that while the men had a separate room booked, the hotel staff had seen them having a conversation with the women. A staff worker, Rohit, reportedly claimed that the two women were “drunk”.
Sexual assault ruled out
Meanwhile, Mr. Hooda said that the postmortem report by a board of doctors at Maulana Azad Medical College revealed shock and haemorrhage resulting from antemortem injury to the head, spine, left femur and both lower limbs were the provisional cause of death.
“All injuries produced by blunt force impact are possible with the vehicular accident and dragging,” the preliminary report said.
The report indicated that there was no injury that suggested sexual assault, he added. “It has now been ruled out,” he said, adding that the final report will be received in due course.
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