Victim Dragged To Death Intentionally: Delhi Police Justifies Murder Charge

The Delhi Police has justified the invoking of murder charge in its charge sheet against four of the seven men accused of dragging to death a 20-year-old woman in a car, saying they had ample opportunities to save the victim but they "intentionally and knowingly" dragged her for kilometres together. 

Anjali Singh, an employee of an event management firm, was dragged under a car for kilometres on December 31 night before she died due to serious wounds while still under the car.

Police, in their 800-page charge sheet, said "in furtherance of their ill intention, plan and active participation" Amit Khanna, Krishan, Manoj Mittal, and Mithun "finally killed" the victim Anjali Singh in a "gruesome manner." According to a portion of the final probe report, accessed by PTI, the investigation has revealed that the offence was committed in two parts - first, when the accused hit the victim, and second, when they reversed the car and then drove it around, dragging the victim for a very long distance.

It said the "guilty intent" and "knowledge" of the accused were established by the fact that they stopped the car around 500-600 metres from the place of the incident, following which two of them sitting behind and a third sitting next to the driver came out to check whether the victim was still stuck under the wheels.

According to information gleaned from witness testimony, CCTV cameras footage, and other evidence, at the time of incident, the four accused were present inside the car, the charge sheet said.

Amit Khanna was driving the car with Manoj Mittal sitting beside him and Mithun and Krishan in the back seat, it said.

"The accused persons had ample opportunities to save the victim but they intentionally and knowingly dragged her with the car so that she is killed and in furtherance of their ill intention, plan and active participation, the accused persons finally killed her in a gruesome manner," the charge sheet said.

The final report further said, "the act of the accused persons was so imminently dangerous that it, in all probability, was sufficient to cause death, or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and the act of the accused persons was without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injuries." The body of the victim was finally "detached" from the car at Shani Bazar Road in Krishan Vihar around 13 km from the spot of the incident, it said.

Police had arrested Deepak Khanna, 26, Amit Khanna, 25, Krishan, 27, Mithun, 26, and Manoj Mittal in connection with Anjali's death on January 2.

Two other accused, Ashutosh Bhardwaj and Ankush, were given bail by the court earlier.

According to the charge sheet, all accused were booked for criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, harbouring offender, common intention, and false information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person. It said Ashutosh, who was the custodial owner of the car, and Ankush gave false information about the driver to mislead the investigation and also helped provide harbour to the accused at the house of Deepak, another accused in the case.