A 43-year-old taxi driver was killed on Tuesday after being dragged for over 500 metres by his own vehicle while resisting a carjacking attempt in south-west Delhi’s Mahipalpur area, the police said.
A purported video of the incident, which went viral on social media, shows the victim being dragged under the rear wheels of the car even as the accused persons try to manoeuvre the vehicles between lanes.
Special Commissioner of Police Sagar Preet Hooda said two accused — Mehraj Salmani, 33, and Asif, 24, both residents of Meerut — were arrested in a joint operation between the Uttar Pradesh police and the Delhi police on Wednesday.
“Upon interrogation, the accused revealed they had boarded the taxi as passengers and, after some time, threatened and pushed the taxi driver out of the car with the intention of robbing the vehicle,” Mr. Hooda said.
Mr. Salmani has earlier been booked in six criminal cases in U.P. and Delhi, while Mr. Asif is involved in a total of nine cases, the officer added.
DCP (South West) Manoj C. said the Vasant Kunj (North) police station received a call around 11.20 p.m. on Tuesday about an unidentified body bearing injury marks being found near the NH-8 service road.
He added that a case under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) was registered at the police station, and an SIT was constituted to trace the accused.
‘History of carjacking’
According to Meerut Police Circle Officer (Kotwali) Amit Rai, the accused have a history of carjacking. “Their plan was to dismantle the vehicle and sell it in parts,” he said.
The police identified the victim as Bejinder Shah, a resident of Haryana’s Faridabad who worked as a taxi driver.
Naginder Shah, the deceased’s brother, said Bejinder was the breadwinner of his family of seven, including five children. Bejinder’s eldest daughter, 20, studies at Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College and is preparing for civil services exams.
