Marketing professional held for Bhikaji Cama hit-and-run accident

To evade arrest, the driver allegedly continued driving his badly damaged car — including a burst front tyre — for nearly 10 kilometres.

A 30-year-old marketing professional has been arrested for a fortnight-old hit-and-run on Ring Road near Bhikaji Cama Place that left five women seriously injured, police said on Tuesday. The women were travelling in an Eeco van when it was struck by a speeding Grand Vitara. Two of the victims, aged 58 and 35, remain in the ICU at Safdarjung Hospital.

Marketing professional held for Bhikaji Cama hit-and-run accident

Because the offending vehicle was not immediately identified, police scanned footage from more than 600 CCTV cameras to track it down. To evade arrest, the driver allegedly continued driving his badly damaged car — including a burst front tyre — for nearly 10 kilometres, said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel.

Around 5am on November 23, the RK Puram police station was alerted to a collision involving an Eeco van and an unknown vehicle on Ring Road at Bhikaji Cama Place. Five women, aged 35 to 63, were seriously injured and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. A case was registered on the complaint of the van driver, VK Mehta.

“The case was challenging as there were multiple escape routes for the offender. Initially, the route towards AIIMS was examined, and several lanes and roads were checked using CCTV footage, but no clue was found. Subsequently, CCTV cameras covering both the front and rear movement of vehicles were reviewed, and finally, the offending vehicle — a Grand Vitara with one of its headlights not functioning — was identified,” Goel said.

Because the registration number was unreadable due to night glare, investigators tracked all possible routes and eventually spotted a car with front right-side damage taking a right turn from the Bhikaji Cama Place traffic signal. Tracing its path led officers to J-Block in Saket, where a local enquiry revealed that a similarly damaged vehicle belonging to resident Dinesh Kumar Sankla had been seen entering the colony that morning, the DCP said.

“The 65-year-old resident was examined and he told investigators that his son, Chanakya Sankla, was driving the car that morning. Accordingly, Chanakya was interrogated and arrested after he confessed to ramming the Eeco while returning home after dinner at a restaurant in Sarojini Nagar. He sent the damaged car to a workshop in Okhla for repairs two days after the accident. We have recovered the car,” Goel added.

Police said Chanakya is unmarried, holds a postgraduate degree in marketing, has been working in garments marketing for the past three years, and has no previous criminal record.