Student killed in hit-and-run on Dwarka e-way

Four other people from the group sustained minor injuries in the incident that allegedly involved a speeding dumper truck

A 15-year-old student part of a Taekwondo group was killed in a hit-and-run case on Dwarka Expressway on the outskirts of west Delhi’s Dwarka, police said on Monday.

The driver of the offending vehicle sped away from the accident site before anybody could note down its registration number (HT Photo)

Four other people from the group sustained minor injuries in the incident that allegedly involved a speeding dumper truck. The incident took place early in the morning during the group’s warm-up session, officers said.

The victims were taken to a hospital, where Arundhati Dhulia was declared brought dead, said M Harsha Vardhan, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka). She was a student of Class 10 and lived with her parents Najafgarh.

The driver of the offending vehicle sped away from the accident site before anybody could note down its registration number. Police were yet to trace it down.

“We are checking CCTVs and inquiry is underway to identify the truck. We have registered a case of causing death due to negligence, negligent driving, and causing hurt by a negligent act at Chhawla police station,” said the DCP.

Dhulia was part of a group of 11 Taekwondo practitioners led by their coach, Satinder Bisht. They were out for a run and were doing stretching exercises ahead of their practice session at around 5.40am on Sunday. The group included school and college students as well as working professionals.

“We were just going to start our run and were doing some stretching exercises along the Dwarka Expressway at around 5.40am when the accident happened,” said Bisht, who runs a Taekwondo academy in the area.

According to Anurag Prasad, an engineering student part of the group on whose complaint the first information report (FIR) was registered, the speeding dumper truck hit five of them and sped away. “We couldn’t note down its number,” Prasad told the police.

The injured included two 16-year-old girls, Naina Joshi and Supriya, 25-year-old Rajesh, and Sachin, 42. Police could provide only the first names of three of the injured victims.

A police team which reached the spot to investigate the accident found the mangled remains of a bicycle, belonging to Rajesh . “We have checked the area for CCTVs, but found no relevant footage so far,” said an investigator not authorised to speak to the media.

While the DCP said that the four inured received minor injuries, Bisht said that the two girls were referred to Safdarjung Hospital. “The other two were discharged from the hospital,” Bisht said.