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Chandigarh: Retd Army Major arrested for hitting woman feeding stray dogs on road with SUV
The accused has been identified as Sandeep Sahi, 40, a resident of Army Flats, Phase 2, Mohali. He is retired army major who runs a security agency in Rajasthan. Police have also seized the vehicle involved in the accident, a Hyundai Creta.
Two days after a woman feeding stray dogs on the road dividing Sector 53/54, close to the furniture market bordering Mohali, was hit by a speeding car, police arrested a retired army major on Monday.
The victim, Tejashwita Kaushal, 28, an architecture graduate and a resident of Sector 51, was discharged after treatment for head injuries at Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, and is recovering.
The accused has been identified as Sandeep Sahi, 40, a resident of Army Flats, Phase 2, Mohali. He is retired army major who runs a security agency in Rajasthan. Police have also seized the vehicle involved in the accident, a Hyundai Creta.
He was traced with the help of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, and arrested on Monday from his house.
A case under Sections 279 (rash and negligent driving) and 337 (act endangering human life) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Sector 36 police station, Chandigarh.
Kaushal, an architecture graduate, who is presently preparing for competitive examination, while talking to HT over phone, said, “I was feeding the dogs when a speeding vehicle hit me.” The accident took place at about 11.35 pm on Saturday night.
Kaushal said that she routinely feeds stray dogs, and on Saturday too, she had gone to the spot with her mother, Manjinder Kaur.
The incident was caught on CCTVs installed at the market.
In the footage, Kaushal can be purportedly seen feeding two stray dogs when the car coming from Phase 2, Mohali, hit her.
On hearing her daughter’s shrieks, Kaur rushed to her but by then the Creta driver had sped away. She sought help from passers-by but when no one stopped, she called the police control room and then her husband, Ojaswi Kaushal. The family rushed the injured woman to hospital. Police reached the spot only after 11.55 pm, but by then the victim was already in hospital.
The incident comes just two weeks after the horrifying Delhi hit-and-drag incident in which a 20-year-old woman died after she was trapped under a car, following a crash, and dragged for miles.
Accused had given his vehicle for repair: Police
As per police sources, accused Sahi told the police that he was on his way to ISBT, Sector 43, Chandigarh, where he routinely goes to have tea. He told the police that he did not realise he had hit a person, and that he thought he had hit another vehicle (Alto) and so did not stop. After the accident, he had even stopped after about 150 metres to assess the damage caused to his vehicle and did not look back.
“He has claimed that there were no street lights so he did not notice anyone, but his claim is yet to be verified,” said the police official. On Monday, he had given his vehicle for repair from where the same was seized.
