Speeding Range Rover mows down two teens in Gurugram; number plate, suspects missing

A gol-gappa vendor from Uttar Pradesh, and his 14-year-old brother-in-law were flung in the air upon impact with the speeding car.

Two teenagers, including a boy studying in class 7, were killed on Sunday night when a luxury SUV allegedly hit them near Business Park, Sector 65, on Golf Course Extension Road, while they were walking back home with their gol-gappa cart. Police said that car’s driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot, adding that the number of passengers in the car is not known. The SUV reportedly did not have a registration number plate when the police reached the spot.

According to an eyewitness, the car was being driven at a high speed, above 100 km / hour. (Parveen Kumar / HT Photo)

Police said gol-gappa vendor Mordhwaj Kumar, 18, a native of Guretha village in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, and his 14-year-old brother-in-law Anil from Hamupur in Badaun, were flung in the air upon impact with the speeding car and thrown by the road side. At least one air bag of the abandoned Land Rover was open.

Mordhwaj sold street food at Ramgarh Chowk and Anil had come to the city 10 days ago for vacation.

Mordhwaj’s elder brother and complainant in the case, Devender Kumar, said he witnessed the accident as he was pulling his cart a few metres behind the victims. He said he saw the accused driver removing the number plate of the Land Rover (Discovery) before escaping.

Police said the incident took place on Sunday around 10.30pm when both the victims were returning to their rented house in Badshahpur.

“When we reached near Business Park, Sector 65, a red-coloured Land Rover car travelling at a high speed hit my brother Mordhwaj and Anil from behind. Due to the impact of the collision, they fell on the road. I ran towards them and picked them up. A crowd gathered around us and with the help of an ambulance we rushed to a hospital in the city,” Kumar stated in the complaint based on which a case was filed against unidentified suspect/s under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 65 police station on Monday.

Police said that the victims were rushed to the government-run civil hospital in Sector 10 where the doctors declared them dead on arrival.

The victims’ bodies were returned to their families on Monday afternoon after a post-mortem examination. Civil hospital forensic expert Dr Deepak Mathur said, “The victims’ suffered multiple fractures and injuries on their lower abdomen, pelvis and thighs; their organs were crushed due to the impact. Both died within minutes of the incident.”

Eyewitnesses, including other street food vendors, who usually take the same route as the victims on their way home after work, said they saw four persons escaping on foot after the crash.

“The car was being driven at a high speed, above 100 km/hr. The front number plate broke because of the collision. The accused, whose number I am not certain, picked up its pieces and removed the rear number plate before escaping. I was attending to my brothers and did not notice where they went,” Devender Kumar said.

Police, however, said it was not certain if the accused removed the registration number plate.

“The car driver abandoned his vehicle and fled. We are yet to confirm the number of passengers in the car. The vehicle has been confiscated. Police are trying to trace the car’s owner with the help of chassis number,” assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ashok Kumar of the Sector 65 police station said. He added that since the accident took place at the night, the CCTV cameras could not capture it as the stretch lacks functional streetlights near the site of the mishap.

The Land Rover remained parked at the spot for several hours. Later, a crane was called to move the car to a spot near the Business Park.