A speeding car hit and killed a couple in Bihar’s Saharsa district, dragged the husband for three km before the driver stopped to dump the body in the boot and drove 14 km to bury it before fleeing, police said on Thursday.
The body was exhumed as one person, who allegedly helped the accused to conceal it, was arrested. Police said that the car was registered in the name of Anoj Kumar Singh, who gifted the car to his son-in-law. Keshav Kumar Singh, a cousin of the son-in-law, drove the car when it hit the couple.
Police said Shyama Devi, 55, and her husband, Bharat Ram, 60, were sitting near their roadside hut on Tuesday when the speeding car hit the couple. Devi died on the spot, and her body was recovered 30 metres away, but Ram went missing, triggering protests.
Police pressed a dog squad and a technical team into service and filed a case against unidentified accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 281 (rash or negligent driving), 105 (causing death by negligence), and 106 (1) (causing death by rash or negligent act) based on the statement of the couple’s son, Butan Kumar.
Police superintendent Himansu, who constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), scanned CCTV footage from cameras installed between Saurbazar and Saharsa (14.3 km) and first identified the vehicle with the help of the registration number and seized it. “...the SIT found that the car first stopped at Jivachhpur, where the driver tried to separate the body from the vehicle, but he was unable to do so. Police recovered some body parts and clothes from the spot. Later, the driver arrived at the house of his friend [Sunil Kumar Sharma], some seven km from Jivachhpur, who arranged sacks for the driver.”
{{/usCountry}}Police superintendent Himansu, who constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), scanned CCTV footage from cameras installed between Saurbazar and Saharsa (14.3 km) and first identified the vehicle with the help of the registration number and seized it. “...the SIT found that the car first stopped at Jivachhpur, where the driver tried to separate the body from the vehicle, but he was unable to do so. Police recovered some body parts and clothes from the spot. Later, the driver arrived at the house of his friend [Sunil Kumar Sharma], some seven km from Jivachhpur, who arranged sacks for the driver.”
{{/usCountry}}He added that the driver kept the body in a sack, took it to an isolated place, and buried it with the help of an excavator, whose operator told police he had dug a grave on the directive of his employer to bury cattle, near a construction site. “The body was recovered and sent for autopsy,” said Himansu. He added that the SIT first looked for Ram at government and private hospitals.
“As the incident took place around 4.30am, there were few people on the road and perhaps nobody noticed the man trapped between the engine and wheels.”