Almost 15 days after a black SUV was allegedly used to hit three friends, two of whom succumbed to their injuries, the ‘killer vehicle’ was recovered by the city police. They said they found the car ‘abandoned’ in Gomti Nagar extension on Thursday night. They also said they have asked for technical and forensic examination of the SUV (Tata Safari Storme) to establish if it was used in the attack.
To recall, Pawan Singh, 22, Tushar Singh, 23, and Himanshu Singh, 23, were riding a scooty in the Indira Nagar area on the night of August 14 when they were reportedly hit by an SUV. While Pawan and Tushar died after suffering fatal injuries, Himanshu is struggling to recover at a private hospital in Gomti Nagar.
Circle officer (CO) of Ghazipur, Deepak Kumar Singh, who is supervising the case investigation, said that police teams raided multiple places in search of the SUV owned by one of the accused, Mohd Shakib Ali Rizvi alias Faiz, a builder’s son.
“The SUV was found parked on the roadside near the Ekana international stadium alongside Shaheed Path in Gomti Nagar extension. We have seized it as case evidence and its technical and forensic examination will be conducted soon,” said Singh.
However, a cop privy to the investigation said that the SUV was handed over to the police by family members of Faiz around four days back. “But it was shown to have been recovered in an abandoned state. It will be tough to establish the use of the SUV in the crime (in hitting the scooty) during the court trial, if the damages have already been repaired. This will favour the accused,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}However, a cop privy to the investigation said that the SUV was handed over to the police by family members of Faiz around four days back. “But it was shown to have been recovered in an abandoned state. It will be tough to establish the use of the SUV in the crime (in hitting the scooty) during the court trial, if the damages have already been repaired. This will favour the accused,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Inspector of Indira Nagar police station, Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, said that so far five people, including Faiz, his close aide Ishuveer Singh, Vicky Chowdhary, Sandeep Kumar Bari and Sachin Chowdhary, had been arrested in the case. “Faiz and Ishuveer were arrested on August 23 and 22 respectively, while three others were arrested and sent to jail on August 19,” he said.
He said all were booked under charges of murder, as mentioned in the FIR lodged by Subedar Singh, father of deceased Pawan, at the Indira Nagar police station on August 15. He said charges under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) against the accused were likely to be added after recording the statement of Himanshu who survived the attack.
Kushwaha said the police were trying to nab one other accused, Annu, who allegedly disappeared with the SUV after the crime. “Interrogation of the people arrested earlier revealed that Faiz, Annu, Ishuveer and Vicky were present in the SUV when it hit the three friends after chasing them for around two kilometres,” he said.
Initial investigation had suggested that Annu took the SUV to a hideout near Janeshwar Mishra Park in Gomti Nagar. However, the vehicle was not found there when the police raided the place.