Mohali police book Merc owner, driver for culpable homicide

Police have slapped stricter sections to the case and booked owner Basant Prabhat Gupta of Patna, Bihar, and his friend Atul of Himachal Pradesh, who was driving the car under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Police have booked the driver and owner of the speeding Mercedes-Benz car that on Sunday ran over a 34-year-old man sleeping inside a roadside tea stall on the slip road near Cheema Boilers in Phase 8-B.

The luxury car has also been impounded.

Police have slapped stricter sections to the case and booked owner Basant Prabhat Gupta of Patna, Bihar, and his friend Atul of Himachal Pradesh, who was driving the car under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the sources, Gupta runs a pharmaceutical factory in Mohali and had given his car to his friend Atul. Both the accused are absconding, police said.

The victim, identified as Prakash Kumar of Bihar, had set up his tea stall at the spot over a year ago. According to the police, the car came from the Chandigarh side and crashed into the stall.

Manjit Kumar, a labour contractor, who reached the spot around five minutes after the accident, rushed the victim to a private hospital but he died on the way. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Mohan, a relative of the deceased, said the rear wall of the stall had also collapsed.

Police on Sunday refrained from removing the car from the spot after the migrants gathered there and hurled stones at the crane, which had been brought to remove the vehicle from the spot.