Speeding car hits scooter in Janakpuri, one killed; driver arrested

A 37-year-old man, who worked as a plumber and had gone to repair a water pump in Dwarka, was killed and his friend was injured after the scooter they were riding

A 37-year-old man, who worked as a plumber and had gone to repair a water pump in Dwarka, was killed and his friend was injured after the scooter they were riding on was hit by a speeding car in west Delhi’s Janakpur area on Friday evening.

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Police said they have arrested the car driver, a 20-year-old resident of Janakpuri, who was driving on the wrong carriageway. The driver has claimed that he was returning after distributing food packets to the homeless. Investigators claimed that neither of the three people involved in the accident had curfew passes to drive during the lockdown.

According to the police, the accident was reported around 6.45pm from near B3 Block on Dharam Marg in Janakpuri. A police team that reached the spot found that a Hyundai Creta car had hit a scooter in a head-on collision The scooter was being driven by Ashutosh, 23, and his friend who rode pillion was Rizab Shah, 37 — both residents of Mahabir Nagar in Tilak Nagar.

“Both were taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital. While Ashutosh survived the accident with injuries to his leg and is under treatment, Shah succumbed on Saturday morning,” said a police officer.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Deepak Purohit said the car has been seized from the spot and the accused, Rudraksh Khanna, a resident of Janakpuri, who was driving the vehicle, arrested. “A case under Section 304 A for causing death due to negligence and rash driving has been registered against Khanna. Post mortem will be conducted on Sunday to ascertain the cause of death and for further legal action,” Purohit said.

A police officer probing the accident, said Rudraksh Khanna’s father is a government contractor. “On enquiry he said he had stepped out of his house amid the lockdown to distribute food packets to the homeless. His medical examination did not show any signs of alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of the accident. He was alone in the car. Because many carriageway have been closed due to the lockdown, Khanna was driving his car on the wrong carriageway. Both Khanna and the two men on scooter were in violation of the lockdown, “ the officer said.

“What we know is that Rizab had gone to repair a water pump in Dwarka. Ashutosh had taken him to Dwarka, because the person who needed the plumber was his employer. The accident took place when he and his friend were returning home. Both were wearing helmets. He is survived by his wife and their toddler. He was the only earning member in his family,” Sapne Shah, Rizab’s aunt, said.