It's not often that a car can give evidence against its owner. But the seemingly impossible happened as the Delhi Police — thanks to retrieving a small piece of the car — was able to nab the accused who killed a man on Saturday.
Manoj, 28, a juice vendor, was hit by the car on Saturday night at ITO around 11:30 pm.
A crime and forensics team arrived at the location where a small piece of the Audi was discovered. A closer look into a broken part from the car, picked up by the forensics team of Delhi Police from the spot, revealed that a number was carved on it. Since CCTV footages of the accident revealed that the car could not be traced, police shared the number with experts and got to know the model of the Audi.
"With the help of the number, we were able to trace that the car. Further scrutiny from the only two authorised dealers of Audi in Delhi revealed that the car was purchased from their Sarita Vihar based showroom. Details of the car owner were traced and the police team led by Inspector Ravindra Kumar, IP Estate police station, zeroed down on one Rajeev Malhotra, a resident of Greater Kailash in southeast Delhi, who was detained for questioning," said a senior police officer.
Police said that the very next morning, the accused drove to a Noida based Audi service centre to get his car repaired. They immediately brought him in for questioning.
During questioning, Malhotra, who owns a property dealing business in Daryaganj, admitted his involvement in the accident. He also confessed that he was driving the vehicle on the night of the incident.
Malhotra also disclosed that since the Audi's bumper was injured and windshield was also cracked, he drove to a Noida-based service centre to get his car repaired the next morning so that no one would question the damage to his car.
Manoj was hit by the car on Saturday night when he was trying to cross the main road opposite Doll Museum at ITO. The impact of the crash was such that he was flung about 20 metres up in the air and fell on iron grill erected on the divider, in which his body got tangled, cutting open the abdominal portion of his body and had his organs hanging out. The man, who hailed from Bihar, succumbed on the spot.
