It was a friendship that Ashutosh Sharma will regret as he found himself embroiled in the sensational Anjali hit-and-run case, which led to the death of a 20-year-old girl.
As The New Indian traced his house, Sharma quietly locked himself in his unsuspecting Rohini Sector-I home, with a Delhi Police sleuth planning their next move to convert this IT professional into a key witness.
It was Sharma’s Maruti Baleno that was used by the five accused on New Year’s Day for a drive, leading to the hit-and-run case of Anjali Singh.
According to the neighbours The New Indian spoke to, one of the five accused in the case, Amit Khanna, happened to be a friend of Sharma. Khanna took the car on the pretext of taking his mother to the hospital, the neighbours said.
The incident happened when Khanna and his friends were returning from Murthal, where they had gone to have food.
Giving details of the latest development in the case, the police sources said, “The car in the incident is registered in the name of one Lokesh Kumar. Kumar happened to be Sharma’s brother-in-law. Kumar had given the car to Sharma for use.”
“After the incident, Khanna returned the car to Sharma and explained to him what had happened. While Khanna talked about drinking and an incident, he didn’t tell Sharma about the body being stuck under the car for 13 kilometers,” the police said.
According to the CCTV footage, accessed by The New Indian, Khanna and his friends parked the vehicle at around 4.55 am. Almost two hours later, police arrived at the parking lot.
When asked how police got to know about the location of the Baleno, police sources said, “Many phone calls were made to the police after several witnesses saw the car moving with a dead body stuck below.”
“Police stations at Sultanpuri, from where the scooty of the victim was recovered, and Kanjhawala, from where the dead body of the victim was recovered, got into action,” the source said. One of the witnesses gave the number of the car, which helped police track it.
Police were at Rohini, where the car was recovered, till 7 am. Sharma gave all the details he was aware of. “His statement was recorded,” police said.
A team from the police and FSL (forensic science laboratory) collected all the relevant evidence, including samples of blood, from the car. “Our team also found body parts that were stuck in the car,” the source said.
In a horrific incident, a Baleno car hit the late Anjali Singh and her friend Nidhi, who were riding pillion on a scooty in the wee hours of New Year’s Day. Anjali’s body got stuck at the bottom of the car and dragged for around 13 kilometres.
The post-mortem report ruled out any sexual attack on Singh. Her death was attributed to a vehicular accident and dragging.