Mcb777 Live The accident that shocked the country

She was a 20-year-old like any other girl her age — she enjoyed putting on make-up, lip-synching to songs, updating her social media…Behind the happy persona, however, was a personal tragedy. Her father had passed away nearly eight years ago. The mother, a kidney patient, lost her job as a helper in a private school during the lockdown. With no other source of income, and having to look after three younger siblings – a brother, two younger sisters and her mother, the young woman took it upon herself to shoulder her family’s responsibilities.Having studied till class VIII, she worked as support staff at events – the job could range from ushering guests, helping brides get ready to arranging flowers.Watch: CCTV footage of the car driving after hitting the girl's scooter medium nocaption96678730The evening beforeOn New Year’s Eve, she left home at 6.30pm. When her mother called at 9pm to find out when she would return, she said she would reach home by 4am. Her work had just started. Her mother called her twice again – at 10pm and then at 6am on the morning of January 1, both times her mobile phone was switched off.What the mother did not know was somewhere between 1.50am and 2.00am, her daughter’s scooter was hit by a grey Baleno. She was knocked down and allegedly dragged for 10-12km. When she was found, she was dead, her body bare, the skin scraped off and bones broken. medium96714101The accident The young girl and her friend were riding at around 1.40am on a scooter – a gift to herself – something she bought with her own earnings. They were coming back from a friend's birthday party, the police said.Driving on a smoggy winter night, their scooter allegedly collided with a Baleno car being driven by five drunk men in Delhi’s Kanjhawala area. Watch: CCTV footage shows the girl was accompanied by a friend on her ride medium nocaption96698106The friend riding pillion sustained minor injuries and allegedly fled from the spot out of fear while the girl fell in front of the car after the collision and was run over. Her legs got stuck in the axle after which she was dragged by the moving vehicle for 12km, meeting a horrible end, the police said.In her statement before the magistrate, the victim's friend claimed the accused had ignored their screams and driven away. "Her leg or feet got stuck in the car and she couldn't get out. The men in the car went back and forth and drove even though she was screaming. The occupants saw that she was stuck under the car and yet kept driving. It wasn't like they did not know…"The police are also questioning the friends they met at the party earlier in the evening.Watch: What the victim's friend has said medium nocaption96724579Who was driving the car?There were five men in the car when the accident took place. The accused have been identified as Deepak Khanna (26), a Gramin Seva auto driver; Amit Khanna (25), who worked in a bank on a contract basis in Uttam Nagar; Krishan (27), who worked at the Spanish Culture Centre in Connaught Place; Mithun (26), a hairdresser and Manoj Mittal (27), a ration dealer. The car belonged to a relative of Amit Khanna’s friend.The accused admitted that they had had too much to drink and that they did not realise that something was stuck underneath the car. Later they realised that something was stuck in the car wheel and saw a woman’s body after driving for a few kilometres. They removed the body from the car and fled from the scene, according to an officer privy to the investigation.Watch: The men who were in the car when the accident happened medium nocaption96709324What the victim’s family say A video showing the condition of the woman’s body surfaced on social media fuelled rumours that the victim was sexually assaulted.The girl’s family members too are claiming that she had been raped and killed."My daughter was wearing an inner, a T-shirt, a jacket and pants. How come not a single piece of clothing was found on her body? I heard that her bones were visible and legs were gone. The culprits dumped her body and left," the woman's mother has alleged.Her relatives claim that if it were an accident, the suspects could have taken her to hospital. "The condition of the body shows she was sexually assaulted. We want proper investigation in the matter and justice for our daughter," her uncle said."I got a call on Sunday around 7am from the police asking if the scooter belonged to us. They told me that my daughter had met with an accident and took me to the police station. They asked me to wait to meet my daughter. After I called my brother there, the cops later told him about her death. They didn't show me her body," the mother said, adding she wants justice for her daughter.Police are waiting for the autopsy report to rule out any sexual assault on the victim.Watch: Post-mortem report says no sexual assault medium nocaption96711629Where were the police?Two persons have claimed they saw the 20-year-old woman being dragged between the wheels of a car in Kanjhawala area in the early hours of the morning and alerted the police, but the police did not pay any heed. Deepak Dahiya, who runs a dairy said: "I was standing near my shop around 3.20am when I heard a loud noise. At first, I did not understand what had happened and assumed it was a tyre burst that had caused it. But later, I saw the car take a U-turn and noticed the woman's body underneath."Dahiya said he immediately informed the police. "At least 18-20 calls were exchanged between the police and me," he said.He also chased the car on his motorcycle for 45 minutes — from 3:30am to 4:15am. He stopped, he said, after he realised the body was not attached or dragged along the car anymore. medium96714138The other witness, Vikas, who works for an online food aggregator, was returning after delivering an order in the Kanjhawala area and heading towards Maharaja Agrasen Road when he spotted the car."A grey Baleno was coming from the opposite direction and had taken a right turn to head towards Rohini. There was a police check post just 100-200m away, and the car took a sharp U-turn before it. There weren’t too many vehicles on the road at the time, and the speeding car made a loud noise. I turned to look and saw a woman's head hanging underneath the car," he said.Vikas said he was petrified and went to the police post, which was empty."I saw two policemen patrolling on a bike and told them what I had seen. They casually asked me if I was fine and told me to proceed with my work. All this happened between 2:35am and 3:05am," he said. The police said they have at least 6-7 clear CCTV footages showing the movement of the car as well as the girls. They deny rumours that the accused were in the company of the deceased girl before the incident.Police probe has revealed that the accused were able to bypass two permanent police pickets as they were on the other carriageway. Since they were maintaining a steady speed of 40-50kmph, they didn't raise any suspicion. Also, they took a U-turn just before the picket on their carriageway. Deepak, the driver, was familiar with the routes and police presence and thus managed to drive around for 90 minutes. medium96714157Many questions remain unansweredA hapless woman was dragged by a car unchecked over a long distance and over a fair amount of time. The first question that comes to mind is how does having hundreds of checkposts and barricades spread across the city, especially on New Year’s eve help? The next is why did it take so long for the police to respond after the first PCR call?Finally, streetlights that don’t work, winter fog, an uneven stretch of road with potholes and a lack of proper surveillance mechanism all point to inefficiencies in the system. The result was that despite police presence and pickets near by a horrific tragedy like this unfolded.