Merc hit and run: Police chargesheet accused teen’s father, mother

Delhi Police on Friday charge sheeted the father and mother of a juvenile accused of mowing down a 32-year-old man with a speeding Mercedes in north Delhi’s Civil line area in April last year.

In a first, the police had arrested the 17-year-old boy’s father along with the minor for allowing the boy to drive the Mercedes without a valid licence. Police in their chargesheet have reportedly alleged that despite the teenager being challaned for driving without a licence and getting involved in a similar accident earlier, his father did not stop him from driving.

The boy’s father, who runs a business of wedding cards, has been chargesheeted under sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

On April 5 last year, management student Siddharth Sharma was hit by a speeding Mercedes car, driven by the 17-year-old, while he was trying to cross the road in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area. The teenager was apprehended and charged under lenient sections of causing death due to negligence and let off on bail, triggering massive protests.

Delhi Police later apprehended him again and charged him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The juvenile turned 18 four days after the accident. He was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board later.

Police in their chargesheet against the teenager, who is being tried as an adult, said the teenager, who is the student of a prominent Delhi school, was warned by his friends not to drive at such a high speed. Police have made his friends as witnesses.