Hit-and-run victim’s daughter helps cop find runway dad

After identifying the body of her mother at a city hospital's morgue, five-year-old Preeti travelled some 200 kilometres east of Delhi with the police to trace the father who had abandoned them three years ago.

After identifying the body of her mother at a city hospital's morgue, five-year-old Preeti travelled some 200 kilometres east of Delhi with the police to trace the father who had abandoned them three years ago.

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The little girl — who lost her mother in a car accident on June 3 in south Delhi —helped police trace her absentee father to Badayun in western Uttar Pradesh.

“I did not know anything about my wife's death until the police came to my village the other day. “My daughter had been here once with her mother, she remembered the road and the way,” said Gurjari, the father of the three children.

Gurjari's wife Meenakshi alias Meenu (27) died after being hit by a speeding Mercedes convertible being driven by Dinesh Singh Tanwar (26), son of a rich politician, near Africa Avenue Marg in south Delhi on June 3.

Police took five days to identify the woman's body as there was no adults in her family and her children — Preeti, Shivam (2) and Saina (1) — were alone at their hutment in Wazirpur slums of northeast Delhi.

On Sunday, the father-daughter reached Delhi. "I want the custody of my children. Though I don't have money but I would like to educate them,” said the father adding that he has only Rs 600 in his bank account.

"The children are the state's responsibility now. According to the Juvenile Justice Act, these children are in need of care and protection," said Amod Kanth, chairperson, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).