Audi crash: Victims’ families approach Lucknow officials over lack of progress
The family members of the victims in the Audi car crash case approached senior police officials in Lucknow over a lack of progress in the investigation. The incident took place on the intervening night of January 27 and 28 at Hindon Canal Road in Indirapuram when the speeding Audi Q7, owned by Dr Manish Rawat, crashed head-on into an autorickshaw, killing three passengers, Vishal Singh, his cousin Yajuvendra Sengar, their family friend Rinku Yadav and Sanjeev Kumar, the auto driver.
The family members of the victims in the Audi car crash case approached senior police officials in Lucknow over a lack of progress in the investigation.
The incident took place on the intervening night of January 27 and 28 at Hindon Canal Road in Indirapuram when the speeding Audi Q7, owned by Dr Manish Rawat, crashed head-on into an autorickshaw, killing three passengers, Vishal Singh, his cousin Yajuvendra Sengar, their family friend Rinku Yadav and Sanjeev Kumar, the auto driver.
“There has been absolutely no outcome from the investigation even after over a month since the incident took place. We also went to the officials in Ghaziabad but the officials were non-cooperative and spoke little, to avoid us. They also took offence to our requests and told us that we should not be teaching them the law,” Sunita Sengar, Yajuvendra’s mother, said.
Nearly a week after the incident, Dr Rawat, who was previously based in Bareilly, surfaced and told the police that he was present inside the car but it was driven by ‘Ishaq Ahmad’ of Bareilly. On January 30, a man claiming to be Ishaq Ahmad surrendered before a Ghaziabad court. He appeared before the court on January 31 and obtained bail.
A visit by HT team to Ahmed’s residence revealed that he was an impostor. Ishaq Ahmad was found to be a truck driver and he was in Gujarat when the incident took place. Ishaq revealed that the man who surrendered and obtained bail was a former co-tenant, Syed Imtiyaz Qadri. Qadri fled Bareilly and is yet to be traced.
“I asked Ghaziabad officials about the mobile phone locations of the doctor and also of the person who was driving the car. The police could not reply as they failed to trace the impostor and get to the root of the conspiracy. Then, we approached police officials in Lucknow and they assured us of a speedy probe,” she said.
Daljit Singh, UP’s additional director general (law and order), said, “The family met us and we have instructed the Ghaziabad police to expedite the investigation. As of now, we are in thick of the elections. However, the elections are nearing completion and we will dedicate more resources to the case.”
The incident was initially investigated by the Indirapuram police, who then handed the probe to the crime branch.
In a complaint to Bareilly police on February 12, Ishaq had alleged that a copy of his driving licence was fraudulently used by Qadri to surrender before the court. He had also alleged that Dr Rawat and others helped Qadri impersonate him.
However, the Bareilly police failed to initiate action on the complaint. The Bareilly police said on Wednesday that they cannot investigate the case. “Any action will have to be taken by the Ghaziabad police because all the incidents took place in Ghaziabad,” Ramanpal Singh, circle officer, Nawabganj, Bareilly, said.
Ishaq said,“The Bareilly police should have told me this when I submitted my complaint. I went there several times to record my statements.”
HT has learnt from investigators, who reportedly scanned Qadri’s call records and phone location data, that he was in Bareilly until around 9pm on January 27. The speeding Audi crashed into the autorickshaw around 12.15am, nearly 240 km from Bareilly.
Police sources said that Qadri was in Ghaziabad for the first time on January 30-31 — when he surrendered in court — and reached Bareilly on the night of January 31.
