Teen deaths

informed about the accident near the Khooni Darwaaza on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, on the carriageway going towards Daryaganj, in which three teenagers were injured. The first patrolling van reached the accident scene at 11.38pm, and by then some passersby had already moved the injured boys to Lok Nayak Hospital where they were declared brought dead, the DCP said.

“Our district crime investigation team visited the spot and found skid marks from the scooter’s tyres on the concrete divider. The scooter had crashed into the hoarding’s iron pole. Prime facie, it seems that the speed of scooter and the impact of the crash were such that they were flung ahead and their heads hit the pole. This is primarily the reason that the bodies of the trio were found one over the other,” added Randhawa.

The teenagers’ families, however, alleged that they suspect

foul play since the bodies were found practically “stacked”. Osama’s father, Mansoor Ahmed, alleged that a police van “deliberately” hit the scooter from behind while chasing it.

“We suspect that a police van was chasing the kids for not wearing helmets. They deliberately hit the scooter in an attempt to stop them,” Ahmed said, without citing any eyewitness or giving any evidence for his claims. He said there is also a possibility that after the accident, the occupants of the vehicle that rammed the scooter moved the bodies in the hedges by the roadside to pass it off as accident. Police officials, however, said that records show no police van passed that area at the time of the accident. “We have CCTV footage of the road stretch just before where the accident happened. In the footage, the three teens are seen riding a scooter and no police van or any other private vehicle is seen behind them,” Randhawa said.

Nearly 800 people staged a protest at Delhi Gate from 1am to 8am on Sunday, blocking traffic for almost seven hours, demanding a fair probe into the deaths. The protesters dispersed only after senior officers promised the aggrieved families that a thorough investigation would be conducted.