Hari Nagar mishap: 22-yr-old succumbs, death toll 2

The death toll in the west Delhi’s Hari Nagar mishap— which involved a Honda City car — rose to two on Sunday after an injured 22-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries, police said.

Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west), said that the Honda City owner, Sukhdev Malhotra, was arrested after it became clear that he was the one behind the wheel of the car at the time of the mishap.

“Malhotra had tried to mislead us by claiming that the car was being driven by another driver. We arrested him for causing death due to negligence after confirming that he was the one driving,” said the DCP, adding that Malhotra is a building material supplier who lives in east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar.

According to another investigator, who did not want to be identified, Malhotra was in west Delhi to attend a political rally by a candidate. “The mishap occurred while Malhotra was leaving for his home after dropping off a friend at the Tilak Nagar Metro station,” said the investigator.

The mishap, which occurred around 7.30 pm on Saturday, had killed 42-year-old Mohammad Tahid, an e-rickshaw driver, at the spot. Four others had been left injured. The DCP said that one of those injured was 22-year-old Kanchan, who was travelling by the e-rickshaw driven by Tahid. She had suffered serious injuries and succumbed to her injuries at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on Sunday morning.

The mishap had occurred near the Khalsa School o in Hari Nagar. Harpreet Kaur, one of the injured victims, told the police in her statement that she was walking along the road after visiting a Gurudwara when the “speeding” Honda City rammed some vehicles before knocking her down.