Audi mystery: Ishaq surrendered, now an Ishaq says I didn’t, was driving truck in Gujarat

ON TUESDAY, the hit-and-run killing of four people inside an autorickshaw by an Audi Q7 took a curious turn with the surrender of a man who identified himself as Ishaq Ahmed from Bareilly. He claimed to have been driving the SUV, owned by a neurosurgeon, on the night of January 27 when it rammed the three-wheeler near the Delhighaziabad border.

Three days on, the case appears to have taken another bizarre twist.

Based on police records, The Indian Express reached Ahmed’s house in Labhera village of Bareilly where his mother claimed that her son was a minitruck driver who was in Gujarat on the night of the accident, at home on the day he was said to have surrendered in Ghaziabad, and had left a day later for Guwahati.

When contacted on a cellphone number provided by his family, a man who identified himself as Ahmed denied that he was involved in the accident or had surrendered. He said he was currently in West Bengal — the itinerary he gave was corroborated by the truck-owner.

Meanwhile, the lawyer who had appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Ghaziabad to ensure bail for Ahmed said he had proceeded with the case after “scrutinising” the documents produced by his client. “If someone impersonated Ishaq Ahmed, he will go to jail. If Ishaq is suddenly saying something different, I don’t know,” said the lawyer, Nazakat Chowdhary.

Indirapuram police, which is investigating the case, are yet to trace the SUV owner, Dr Manish Rawat of Safdarjang Hospital, who stays in Sarita Vihar and has not reported for duty after the