Four-year-old accident case returns to haunt man

A four-year-old accident case has returned to haunt a man who had injured one person while driving near Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi four years ago. Dharmendra Kumar, a 25-year-old resident of Sangam Vihar, had hit the man while driving his car on the Moolchand flyover on May 11, 2008. The court had let him off after imposing a fine, and he was living normally since then.

A four-year-old accident case has returned to haunt a man who had injured one person while driving near Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi four years ago. Dharmendra Kumar, a 25-year-old resident of Sangam Vihar, had hit the man while driving his car on the Moolchand flyover on May 11, 2008. The court had let him off after imposing a fine, and he was living normally since then.

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But a late reply from the Mathura transport authority revealed that his driver's licence was forged. Last week, the police arrested him again. "He was apprehended then and the trial was over. The judge fined him Rs. 1,000. We had sent his driving licence for verification, a routine exercise," said a senior police officer, who did not want to be named.

Last week, the police received a reply from authorities in Mathura, saying Kumar's licence was fake. "We searched him out and arrested him again," the officer said.

"A case of rash and negligent driving was registered against him at that time. We had seized his driving licence, registration certificate and insurance paper," the officer said. The transport authority said the licence was originally registered in the name of one Praveen Kumar.

"After verification, a separate case of forgery was registered and a team was sent to apprehend Kumar. He was caught. The incident has exposed how fake driving licences are a real menace," the officer further added.

"Several drivers in the city don't have valid licences. They get it from neighbouring states," Ajay Chaudhry, additional CP (southeast), said.