Man, 70, killed in hit-and-run near Delhi’s RK Puram home, 1 held

The accused had parked his vehicle at a safe place to evade arrest but the mechanic who repaired his scooter gave him away

A 24-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly hitting a 70-year-old man with his scooter and escaping from the spot in southwest Delhi’s RK Puram on March 7. The elderly man succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Rohit Meena identified the accused as Tarun Kumar, a resident of Ravidas Camp, while the victim was identified as Jagdish Kumar, resident of RK Puram Sector 3. The victim worked as a cobbler. (Representational image)

The accused had parked his vehicle at a safe place to evade arrest but the mechanic who repaired his scooter gave him away.

Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Rohit Meena identified the accused as Tarun Kumar, a resident of Ravidas Camp, while the victim was identified as Jagdish Kumar, resident of RK Puram Sector 3. The victim worked as a cobbler.

According to the police, on March 7, at about 8.00 pm, Kumar was crossing the road from Mohan Singh Market Sector-6 with his nephew Mahendra Kumar and going towards Jeewan Deep Kushta Ashram Sector-1 to meet a relative. When they were about to cross the road, a speeding scooter hit Jagdish from behind and fled. The injured man was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where he died three days later. A case on charges of causing death by negligence was registered and investigation was taken up.

During the probe, CCTV footage of the vicinity was obtained and scanned but the police did not get any leads. “We checked footage of the road going to government offices of the West Block as well as Ambedkar Basti because this scooter was not seen on the road after the accident,” an officer aware of the matter said.

Subsequently, investigators received an input that one Tarun Kumar had met with an accident a few days ago and had given his scooter to a mechanic for repairs. The police team reached the mechanic’s shop, checked the suspected scooter and found it was the same colour as described by the deceased man’s nephew. “Tarun was then called for interrogation and during cross-questioning, he admitted his involvement in the accident,” the officer added.

During interrogation, Tarun allegedly told the police that on the day of the incident, he was coming from Sangam Cinema side when he hit the 70-year-old. “In order to evade arrest, he turned his scooter towards West Block and secretly parked it safely for a few days,” the officer said.