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Ashoka Road fatal accident: Accused truck driver continued to drive after hitting bike, shows CCTV footage
A truck struck a motorcycle in Delhi, killing a 20-year-old and his 14-year-old cousin. The driver, identified but at large, faces charges of negligence.
NEW DELHI: A day after a 20-year-old man and his 14-year-old cousin were killed when a truck hit their motorcycle on Ashoka Road, CCTV footage shows the accused continuing to drive without stopping to check what had happened.
Police have identified the accused driver; however, the passenger’s identity remains unknown. Both are at large.
The victims, residents of Ashok Nagar in west Delhi, had attended an IPL match at Arun Jaitley Stadium and were returning home when the truck rammed their motorcycle. The 20-year-old was riding the motorcycle while the minor was the pillion rider and speaking to his father on the phone at the time of the crash. Both were without helmets.
The 18-second CCTV footage collected by police and seen by HT shows the truck bearing a Delhi registration number and carrying debris taking a left onto Mahadev Road from the Ashoka Road side, then hitting the bike, which was riding parallel to it on the left. The truck and the bike were not speeding, the footage shows, and an investigator confirmed.
The footage was obtained from a bank’s premises and shows a man rushing out of the gate and returning within a few seconds. “He is the eyewitness and called the police. He is also the complainant,” an officer said.
According to investigators, the timestamp in the CCTV footage was 10:29 pm, and the PCR call was made at 10:34 pm. “The PCR reached within three to four minutes, and by this time, the truck had left the spot and possibly gone far ahead, as there was barely any traffic on the road at the time. Subsequently, the staff from the Parliament Street police station also reached the spot within about 10 minutes of the PCR call,” the officer said.
CCTV footage from the area shows that the truck headed east towards Delhi’s Shakarpur, crossing Bhagwan Das Road, the Mandi House roundabout, Sikandra Road, and ITO. “Tracking the movement of the truck, we found it parked in the Khadar area in Shakarpur in the early hours of Tuesday and seized it,” the officer said, adding that the owner of the truck was identified with the help of the registration number.
“The accused driver has also been identified and is in his mid-20s. His relatives live in east Delhi, while his immediate family lives in Bihar. Another person was in the passenger seat at the time of the incident. His role is being probed,” the investigator said.
A case of causing death by negligence and rash driving was registered at Parliament Street police station, and the investigation was taken up.
According to police, the 20-year-old was a BSc student at a Delhi University-affiliated college, while his minor cousin was a Class 10 student at a school in Punjabi Bagh. The family runs a dry fruits wholesale business.
