A day after the Gujarat-based Air Force Drill Instructor Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud was killed by a speeding car during the Republic Day parade rehearsal here, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Thursday stepped up its pressure on the Kolkata police to apprehend the accused.
Police officials said a 22-member special investigation team (SIT) had been set up in connection with the case. A look out notice was also issued against Mohd. Sohrab and his sons Ambia and Sambia.
With preliminary investigation in the hit-and-run case showing that a new Audi Q7 car, registered in the name of the former MLA son’s company, drove past the barricades and ran over the officer, a defence spokesperson categorically said that “somebody has not done his duty.”
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“By the grace of God this was not a terrorist attack. Had it been a terrorist attack what would have happened then…The good part is that it is not a terrorist attack, the sad part is that we have lost one of our personnel,” MoD spokesperson S.S. Birdi told journalists here.
“There are eyewitnesses that have told us that there was only one person driving the car. I think this information is not with the Kolkata police who are saying that more than one person could have been there,” the spokesperson said.
Mr. Birdi said the fact that no arrests had been made even 36 hours after the incident had not gone well with the armed forces.
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Preliminary investigations indicate that Ambia Sohrab, son of former RJD MLA Mohd Sohrab, was inside the vehicle when the accident occurred.
The 26-year-old had in the past been accused of having a brush with the law.