Car occupants knew Anjali was stuck in wheels, claims 'friend'
Karam Prakash
New Delhi, January 3
“My friend was screaming in pain after getting stuck in the wheels of a Baleno on New Year morning. The car occupants knew she was stuck, but they kept driving,” the friend of 20-year-old Anjali who died after being dragged by the vehicle for 13 km around Sultanpuri revealed on Tuesday, hours before the victim was cremated.
Editorial: Sultanpuri horror
Sharing the horrific details of the accident, the girl, riding pillion with Anjali on the fateful day, said they escaped hitting a truck once but then collided with the car a few metres away.
“The car occupants knew she was stuck, but they deliberately kept driving. They went ahead, then reversed and then sped away. She was screaming. I sustained minor injuries and fled out of fear,” said the victim’s friend, who recorded her statement with the Delhi Police today. The girl said they had fought over who would ride the scooter, and Anjali had insisted she would. Claiming the victim was drunk, the sole eyewitness told the media they had argued about the matter outside the hotel where they had gone to celebrate New Year’s Eve. “We left the hotel around 1.45 am. Anjali insisted on riding, saying it was her scooter. She was drunk.”
“She threatened to jump off the scooter if she was prevented from riding,” the girl said on a day when the autopsy report of the victim ruled out sexual assault and established “shock and haemorrhage caused by injuries to the head, spine, left femur and both lower limbs; and blunt force and vehicular dragging as the provisional cause of death”.
Dr Bhupender of Maulana Azad Medical College, which conducted the autopsy, said: “The postmortem report makes it clear that the death was not on account of a single hit, which you could call an accident. It was due to constant dragging for 13 km, indicating a planned murder.”
Bhim Army president Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan visited the victim’s family and demanded that murder charge be added against the accused.
