Teenager takes car out on joyride, crushes auto near CP, kills driver Dead auto driver’s friends, colleagues rescued the three trapped boys
MINOR DRIVER 17yearold boy, speeding in uncle’s car, rams auto on KG Margtolstoy Marg junction; air bags save him and friend
NEWDELHI: A car being driven by a 17-year-old boy, allegedly at high speed, rammed into an auto-rickshaw, killing its driver near Connaught Place early on Thursday morning, police said.
The boy, who lives in east Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar, had taken his uncle’s car on a joyride with his two friends, aged 15 and 17, when the incident occurred around 5.45am on the intersection of Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Tolstoy Marg, said Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi).
While the 66-year-old autorickshaw driver, Shiv Shankar Mehto, was declared dead at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, two of the car’s three occupants were discharged from hospital by late afternoon. The boy seated on the rear seat, who was thrown out of the window as the car turned turtle, was still in intensive care, doctors said.
The boy driving the car was arrested and booked for causing death by negligence, rash driving and causing hurt. Police said that medical tests did not suggest the boys were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, and the DCP said it was unlikely that the police would seek to try the boy as an adult.
“The three boys involved in the accident live in the same neighbourhood and are friends. The boy who was behind the wheel had taken his uncle’s car. The uncle is a school teacher and also serves as a director with a small private firm,” said Verma.
“We are in the process of booking the uncle for allowing the boy to drive illegally,” said the DCP,
adding that the uncle had told the police his nephew had taken the car without his permission. “But this needs to be probed,” Verma added.
The victim, Mehto, lived with his son Kamleshwar near Mata Sundari Road in New Delhi. He was returning home after work when the accident occurred.
Since the Tolstoy Marg-kg Marg crossing only has a blinker as the traffic signal in the night hours, the two vehicles did not stop while passing through the intersection. “The damage to the car suggests it was being driven at high speed,” said the DCP.
“Eyewitnesses told us that the hit was such that the car rolled at least twice before landing next to the pavement. The auto driver was thrown onto the opposite carriageway,” said Mohammad Aslam, another driver who reached the spot. NEWDELHI: On Thursday morning, when three minors taking a joyride rammed their car in an autorickshaw near Connaught Place, the friends and colleagues of the deceased auto driver rushed to start rescue work.
Hours later, the same bunch of auto drivers was an angry lot. They alleged that the boys’ relatives did not even care to check on the family of Shiv Shankar Mehto, the auto driver killed in the crash.
“The only time someone from the boy’s family approached me was when someone came to me with a proposal of compromise to save the 17-year-old who was behind the car’s wheel,” alleged Kameshwar, the auto driver’s son.
Mehto’s friends, Kismohan and Mohammad Aslam, said they reached the spot within minutes of the accident.
“We lifted the car and pulled out the boy who was trapped under the vehicle. We then rescued two other boys trapped inside the car,” said Aslam.
Kismohan and Aslam then went to lift their friend’s body from the opposite carriageway. “The road was getting blocked, so we removed the body,” said Kismohan.
Despite his age, 66-year-old Mehto had continued to drive an auto because he wanted to save enough to marry his 12-year-old daughter who lived in Bihar’s Bettiah district.