Ghaziabad Police have detained four men accused of fatally hitting a 38-year-old waste picker with a car in Delhi and allegedly carrying his body on a scooter before dumping it in a vacant plot in Ghaziabad, officials said on Wednesday.
The collision took place near the Chauhan Patti Gate in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar at about 2.50am, according to Ram Kishan, Assistant Commissioner of Police for the Loni Circle. The victim died at the spot after being hit by a Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, police said.
The four men allegedly left the car in Delhi, placed the body between two riders on a scooter and travelled to the Om Vihar area of Ghaziabad’s Tronica City. Police said they selected a vacant plot surrounded by a boundary wall and abandoned the body there before leaving the area.
According to the police account, two other associates followed the scooter in a Scorpio-N SUV and circled the plot to check whether the disposal had been noticed. The Swift Dzire was later returned to the car-washing centre from where it had allegedly been taken. The SUV was also reportedly a customer’s vehicle.
Police said one of the detained men worked at the car-washing centre and was driving the Swift Dzire when the collision occurred. The four men are between 23 and 28 years old, officials said. The police have seized both vehicles and are questioning the suspects.
Local residents found the body in the vacant plot on Tuesday morning and alerted the police. Investigators examined CCTV footage from the surrounding area and identified a Scorpio seen near the plot at about 4am. The vehicle’s registration number helped police trace the suspects, officials said.
An FIR has been registered at Tronica City police station under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to negligent driving, causing death through negligence, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. The sections cited by police are 281, 106(1), 238 and 61(2).
The case has raised a jurisdictional issue because the fatal collision occurred in Delhi while the body was allegedly transported and abandoned in Ghaziabad. Police said legal advice was being taken on the matter. Further investigation and questioning of the detained men are continuing.
