Speeding sedan crushes cartpuller
The car also hit a cow, two other pedestrians
NEW DELHI: A 55-year-old cart puller was killed and a woman injured after the driver of a Honda City sedan lost control of the vehicle and rammed two pedestrians, the cart puller and a cow in north Delhi’s Sabzi Mandi Thursday morning.
The car then flipped and landed on its side after jumping over a narrow open drain and ramming a tree and a wall. According to eyewitnesses, the two young occupants of the car escaped the spot by climbing out through the shattered windscreen.
Jasmeet Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, said the golden coloured Honda City is registered in the name of one Amril Lal, a resident of Wazirpur. “We haven’t been able to establish who was driving the car. When we visited Lal’s home, we found it locked. We have formed a team to identify the driver,” Singh said.
The officer identified the dead man as Riyasat and the injured woman as 58-year-old Rani Devi. While Riyasat pulled a cart to transport goods for a living, Devi works as a domestic help. Eyewitnesses claimed that there was a third unidentified person who was hit by the car, but the police said they had no record of him.
The accident took place around 7.15am near the Sabzi Mandi police station.
“I was out on the road to feed cows when the car came towards me at a high speed. It first rammed the cow and then me. I was flung on the road and the car sped away,” Devi said.
The car went on to hit the cart puller and a pedestrian at the Barf Khana roundabout, barely 400 metres away.
“A pedestrian and a cart puller were crossing the road when the car hit them. The cart puller was dragged by the car for several metres,” Shamshul, an e-rickshaw driver, said.
The accident spot indicated that the car had jumped over a narrow drain, breaking its raised cover, before hitting a tree and the wall of a DDA park. “There was no way the occupants could escape through the doors. So, they broke through the shattered windscreen to flee,” Deepak Kumar, a resident, said.
“The two occupants glanced at the victims before fleeing via the DDA park. Auto drivers helped us move the injured to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital,” he said.
Riyasat was declared dead on arrival while Devi was treated and discharged. While there was no clarity on the condition of the other injured person and the cow, police said they were certain that there were no more deaths.
Riyasat’s family took his body to their native village in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, after the autopsy. “He is survived by his wife, a daughter and three sons, two of whom are disabled. The family depended on Riyasat for their livelihood,” Ameena, a neighbour, said.
The police have registered a case of causing death by negligence and rash driving and have seized the car.