Kanjhawala case: 4 of 7 accused face murder charges in Delhi

The court also charged the three other accused with evidence-tampering, harbouring offenders and providing false information

Four accused arrested for the gruesome Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case will be tried for murder, conspiracy and destroying evidence, a Delhi court said on Thursday, holding that there is enough evidence on record to frame charges against them.

Outside the residence of Kanjhawala accident victim Anjali Kumari at Mangol Puri in New Delhi in January. (HT Archive)

The court also charged the three other accused with evidence-tampering, harbouring offenders, and providing false information.

Read | Delhi hit-and-run case: Accused ‘agreed upon dragging the girl’ beneath his car for 13 km

The seven accused will now go on trial, eight months after the grisly incident that stunned the national capital on New Year’s Day. Early on January 1, five men in a grey Maruti Suzuki Baleno hit 20-year-old Anjali Kumari, who was riding a scooter along with a friend in Sultanpuri. The impact entangled her body to the underside of the car, which then drove on for at least two hours, dragging her body for at least 14km before it dislodged in a mangled state and was found by local residents in outer Delhi’s Kanjhawala.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Neeraj Gaur will formally frame charges in the case on August 14, when the accused will be present in court and be asked to plead guilty or go on trial.

ASJ Gaur on Thursday said Amit Khanna, Manoj Mittal, Krishan, and Mithun — the four people in the car — will be charged under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence), 212 (harbouring offender) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Amit will also be charged with rash and negligent driving under IPC sections 279 and 337, as well under the Motor Vehicle Act’s sections 181 (driving vehicle without license or below the age limit), 185 (driving while drunk or under influence of drugs).

Three other accused, Deepak Khanna, Ankush Khanna and Ashutosh Bhardwaj, will be charged under IPC sections 201, 212, 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servants to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

Delhi Police, in an 800-page charge sheet filed on April 1, said the four men in the car knew that Kumari was caught under the vehicle, because they stopped 500-600 metres away from the accident spot, at which point three of them got off and checked the underside of the Baleno.

Police also said the accused had ample opportunities to save her, but “intentionally and knowingly” dragged her for a long distance to kill her.

Amit, Deepak, Manoj, Krishan, and Mithun were arrested on January 1 itself. Ankur and Ashutosh were arrested five days later.

Special public prosecutor Atul Srivastava said the four men in the car conspired to drag the victim around even as she clung to the car.

“For such an act, they are liable to be tried under IPC sections 302 and 120B,” he said.

JP Singh, the counsel for the four accused, however, sought discharge of his clients under the murder charge.

“Since there is no evidence or witness that shows that there was any knowledge with the accused persons that the victim was under the vehicle, except the disclosure statement of the accused persons, they cannot be charged with murder,” Singh argued. He added that there was no CCTV footage showing that the accused looked under the vehicle. Amit, Krishan, Manoj, and Mithun are in judicial custody while Deepak, Ashutosh and Ankush have been granted bail in the case.