Audi crash: Ghaziabad cops deny laxity, relatives of victims gun for guilty officials

On January 31, a man claiming to be Ishaq Ahmad, surrendered in court after claiming to have been at the wheels of the speeding Audi. An HT team later traced the real Ishaq Ahmad to Bareilly, who claimed not knowing anything about the accident or Manish Rawat, the alleged owner.

Ghaziabad Police came under intense scrutiny on Saturday after reports surfaced that a man who claimed to be the driver of a speeding Audi that killed four people in Indirapuram on January 27 might have been a fraudster.

Four persons were killed as a speeding Audi Q7 hit an auto over the Hindon canal road in Ghaziabad on January 28. (Sakib Ali)

The family members of the victims have demanded immediate suspension of all officers involved in the case.

On January 31, a man claiming to be Ishaq Ahmad, surrendered in court after claiming to have been at the wheels of the speeding Audi. An HT team later traced the real Ishaq Ahmad to Bareilly, who claimed not knowing anything about the accident or Manish Rawat, the alleged owner of the luxury car.

“We feel that the police is acting under pressure. If the doctor’s phone is switched off then why are they not doing more to trace him? A man cannot impersonate the killer driver and manage to get bail from court without the involvement of the police. An FIR should be lodged against the impersonator,” said Narendra Singh Sengar, uncle of victims Vishal and Yajuvendra.

Uttar Pradesh top cop Javeed Ahmad denied laxity on part of the force and claimed that the ‘fake driver’ was not arrested by police. “#Gzb Audi accident d fake driver not arrested by police. He surrendered in court, accepted crime, got bail. We are probing the matter (sic),” Ahmad wrote on Twitter from his official handle @javeeddgpup.

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Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar said he was considering the transfer of case to the crime branch.

“We will also lodge a case of cheating and forgery against the man who surrendered before the court and obtained bail by fraudulent means. All those who are involved in the entire faux pas will be booked,” he added.

He too denied any laxity in probe and said the police had served a notice to the doctor to join the probe. The doctor, he said, is not an accused in the FIR but a suspect. “The doctor in his written reply to the notice said his driver Ishaq was at the wheels of the car at the time of the accident. Next day, the driver surrenders and obtains bail from court. Ideally, we do not arrest a person if charge against him carries a punishment of below seven years. The doctor is a suspect,” SSP added.

Family members of the accused claimed that the police had failed to collect forensic evidence from the car and left it in front of Indirapuram police station, where anybody could enter the vehicle.

Read: Ghaziabad Audi crash ends lives, ‘dreams’ to marry, work in a big city