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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
On its part, BJP says it is checking whether Mittal is a party member.
One of the five accused arrested in the Delhi hit-and-run case has been identified as a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) unit in Mangolpuri area of Delhi.
Manoj Mittal is co-convener of ward number 42 of Mangolpuri and operates a government-run fair price shop.
27-year-old Mittal has been arrested along with four accused for hitting a bike-riding woman with their Maruti Suzuki Baleno car and dragging her for several kilometres in Kanjhawala area of North West Delhi district on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1.
Taking cognisance of the Delhi hit-and-run case, the Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered a detailed inquiry by IPS officer Shalini Singh.
Singh is presently posted as the Special Commissioner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. The MHA has also been ordered to submit a detailed report about the incident immediately.
The four other accused have been identified as Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), and Mithun (26). While Deepak works as a driver, Amit sells credit cards, Krishnan is an employee at Spanish Culture Centre, and Mithun is a hairdresser.
They were produced before a local court which sent them to three-day police custody.
Meanwhile, a poster of Mittal has surfaced on social media which wishes him on becoming BJP’s ward co-convenor.
Speaking to The New Indian, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the party is checking if accused Mittal was its member. “Such people are not at all allowed in our party. We stand with the family of the victim woman. We will also extend all help to them. If Mittal is our party member, we will dismiss him and also demand that the police give him the harshest punishment,” he said.
As soon as posters started circulating on social media, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress were quick to launch an attack on the BJP, with Arvind Kejriwal’s party accusing the Delhi Police and LG VK Saxena of inaction in the matter.
AAP workers staged a demonstration outside the residence of the LG, demanding his resignation over the incident. Police used mild force and water cannons when demonstrators tried to break barricades and march towards the LG house. Notably, the LG has the power to order police in criminal cases.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the Delhi LG and the police have failed to maintain proper law and order in the city.
“Currently locked in Sultanpuri Police Station, predator Manoj Mittal is the local BJP president and Mandal co-convenor. LG VK Saxena has turned Delhi Police into a ‘toothless elephant’. He has weakened the police system to such an extent that policemen could not even stop the car dragging the girl for an hour,” said Bhardwaj.
He also said the responsible police officers should be suspended first and the LG should also be sacked for failing to ensure the safety of the women in the national capital.
In a video statement, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said, “In Delhi, five people were so drunk after drinking alcohol that they dragged a 20-year-old girl for 12 kilometres to death. One of them, ‘darinda’ Manoj Mittal is the co-convenor of BJP.”
“Why do these criminals have a connection with the BJP every time? Will PM Modi /Smriti Irani remain silent like everyone else,” she questioned.
Separately, relatives and neighbours of the victim woman staged a protest outside Sultanpuri Police station, demanding charges of murder to be added to the FIR. The police are investigating the matter as a case of hit and run under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In the evening, senior police officers met with the victim’s family members and promised a proper investigation into the matter. They said the police will wait for the post-mortem report to investigate the case further.
