Hit-and-run driver leaves man to die

NEW DELHI: An ice cream vendor bled to death after he was left by a road in central Delhi by the driver who hit him and had promised to take him to hospital. A speeding

NEW DELHI: An ice cream vendor bled to death after he was left by a road in central Delhi by the driver who hit him and had promised to take him to hospital. A speeding driver who knocked down an ice cream vendor in central Delhi’s Mandir Marg pretended to help his victim but dumped him on the road to die, police said on Friday.

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The incident occurred on Tuesday, a day before a hit-and-run victim bled to death in Subhash Nagar even as commuters zoomed past him.

A white Innova hit vendor Amrit Lal while he was walking towards the Kali Bari. The vehicle dragged him several metres before residents stopped the vehicle, an eyewitness told police.

“The driver, who introduced himself as Surjeet Kumar, started apologising and convinced us that he would take Lal to RML Hospital for treatment. He pulled Lal from under the front wheels of the car and put him in his car and left,” the eyewitness said in his statement, accessed by HT.

The locals informed Lal’s family about the accident. Together, they all went to check on him at RML Hospital but could not find him there.

“We inquired about him but the hospital authorities told us there was no such accident case reported to them. Then we went to Lady Hardinge Hospital, thinking that the man must have taken Lal there, but we could not find him there either.”

While returning, they saw police near MG flats on Peshwa Road and a body. “When we checked, it was Lal. We were shocked. The man promised to take him to the hospital, but dumped him near the flats and he bled to death. If we knew he would not take him to the hospital, we would have taken him ourselves. At least he would have been alive,” he said.

The eyewitness gave police the name of the accused and his car’s registration number.

“We traced the man with the help of the registration number. He is a taxi driver and was probably drunk. He has been arrested,” a senior police officer said.

A case of rash and negligent driving, negligence and destruction of evidence was registered against him.

During questioning, Kumar tried to mislead the police saying that Lal had asked him to drop him near MG flats but later confessed. He said he got scared the locals would thrash him and hand him over to the police.

“He said he knew the man was dead, but convinced the people around that he was alive and that he would rush him to the hospital. He did this to get out of the spot as everyone had cornered him. After driving a few metres, he threw Lal out of the car and fled,” a police officer said.