Road rage: Man drives for 6km with 35-year-old on roof
GHAZIABAD: A purchase manager of a Gurugram export house had a close shave when he was allegedly driven around on the roof of a car for around six kilometres near Sahibabad on Thursday evening. Stating that the man who drove him around has been arrested, the police said the incident was the result of a road rage case, when the victim had tried to stop the accused’s car after it hit his car.
The incident was captured on mobile phones by onlookers who chased the Zen Estilo car the accused was driving with the victim – 35-year-old Rajesh Diwan, a resident of Pitampura in Delhi — clinging on to the roof of the car while holding on to the front windows.
Police said the accused, Bhuwan Kumar Sharma (30), works as a legal practitioner and is a resident of Raj Nagar Extension.
According to Diwan, the incident took place around 7pm on Thursday. Recalling his neardeath experience, he claimed, “I had come to Ghaziabad to meet a friend and was waiting at a traffic signal in Sahibabad. The accused arrived in his car and banged my Swift Dzire from the rear. The accused started to reverse and flee. When I came out of the car and tried to stop him, he abused me and fled. I then decided to give chase, and soon, near Raj Nagar Extension, I overtook his car.”
Diwan said the scuffle turned ugly when he stood in front of Sharma’s car and asked him to stop.
“Instead, Sharma accelerated and tried to mow me down. I climbed to the bonnet of his car but he continued to drive forward. In order to save myself, I climbed on to the roof of his car where I lay holding the windows. But he kept driving at a speed of 80kmph and above. I started shouting, hoping he may stop and also firmed up my grip on the upper panel of the door. He drove around vacant roads in the vicinity and commuters on motorcycles and cars chased us to have a look,” Diwan claimed.
Meanwhile, a group of commuters chased the speeding car while it raced on the Raj Nagar Extension Road towards GT Road. Diwan said he allegedly banged his knees repeatedly on the windscreen in order to persuade the accused to stop his car.
“But he would not stop and kept driving at a high speed. He even shut the window panes so that I withdraw my grip of pain but I did not. He told me that he was upset as his mother was unwell. All this time, the commuters followed us and made videos. One of the commuters also gave me the videos later,” Diwan alleged. “In between, the accused car driver also took sharp turns so that I lose my grip. The speed was high and I would have died had my grip not been secure,” he further alleged.
According to the police, the car came to a halt near the Meerut crossing due to a traffic jam.
The onlookers pulled Sharma out of the car and beat him up him before handing him over to the police.
Diwan alleged that he approached the local police but they sent him to the Sahibabad police station under whose jurisdiction the incident had initially started. An FIR pertaining to the incident was registered around 12.44am on November 9.
Dinesh Yadav, station house officer, Sahibabad police station, said, “We lodged an FIR against the accused, Bhuwan Kumar Sharma, and arrested him. Sharma allegedly drove the car at a high speed with the victim clinging on to the roof. He was nabbed near the Meerut crossing area where the car got stuck in traffic. He drove the victim on the roof of his car on different roads for around six-seven kilometers.”
“The accused has been booked under IPC sections for attempt to murder, rash driving on public way, causing damage and causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others,” Yadav maintained.