Days after a 20-year-old woman was dragged to death in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri area, one of the two suspects on the police radar for shielding the accused was arrested while the other surrendered on Friday.
Delhi Police had earlier arrested Deepak Khanna, 26, Amit Khanna, 25, Krishan, 27, Mithun, 26, Manoj Mittal, 27. On Thursday, senior police officers had revealed that two more men were involved in shielding the accused and misleading the investigation.
Anjali Singh, 20, was killed after a car hit her scooter in the early hours of New Year’s day and she was dragged under it for 10-12 km from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala before the occupants of the car abandoned her body.
The police said Ankush Khanna, accused Amit Khanna’s elder brother, surrendered on Friday evening at the Sultanpuri police station while Ashutosh Bhardwaj was held from Budh Vihar in north-west Delhi. The accused had borrowed the vehicle from Ashutosh, who initially told the police it was Deepak who took the car.
The Hindu had earlier reported that the accused had lied to the police that Deepak was driving the vehicle. It later came to light that it was Amit who was behind the wheel and Deepak, a Gramin Sewa driver, was not even inside the car. According to the police, there were just four people inside the car at the time of the accident. “Ankush asked the accused to lie to the police that Deepak was driving the car since the other occupants did not have a driving licence,” a senior police officer had said. Ashutosh and Ankush have been booked under various sections of the IPC pertaining to tampering of evidence, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and criminal conspiracy.
Misleading police
Ashutosh, 28, an engineer at a private firm in Noida, has been sent to police custody for three days. The police said Ashutosh admitted to have lied to cover up the crime.
“He didn’t tamper with any forensic evidence but misled the police investigation,” an officer investigating the case said, adding that police have found CCTV footage of him outside his house in Rohini where he could be seen talking on the phone.
“This happened after the accident took place. He was possibly speaking to Deepak and Amit and conspiring to cover up the incident,” the senior officer said.
Published - January 07, 2023 01:29 am IST
