Court directs Delhi Police to file charge sheet in woman hit-and-drag case

A Delhi court has ordered the Delhi Police to conclude its investigation into the tragic hit-and-run case, where a 20-year-old woman was dragged to death by a car on New Year’s Day. The Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal has directed the police to file a charge sheet on April 1, after the stipulated 90-day period for investigation ends.

“The charge sheet is under scrutiny and will be filed shortly,” said the investigating officer (IO) in the case.

According to Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, the probe agency must file a charge sheet within 60 or 90 days in a court of competent jurisdiction. If they fail to do so, the accused may be granted default bail.

The Delhi Police recently invoked Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the case, which was initially registered for the offences of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rash driving on public way.

“The invocation of section 302 (murder) shows the seriousness of the crime committed by the accused,” said the prosecutor in the case.

The accused, Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mithun, and Manoj Mittal, were arrested on January 2 and are currently in judicial custody until April 1. The court had earlier granted bail to two other co-accused, Ashutosh Bhardwaj and Ankush, while Deepak Khanna’s bail plea was rejected by a sessions court.

“The victim, Anjali Singh, was killed in a heinous manner after her scooter was hit by a car and dragged for more than 12 kilometres from Sultanpur to Kanjhawala,” said the lawyer representing the victim’s family.

The tragic incident has shocked and saddened many, and people are calling for justice to be served. “We hope that the accused will be punished for their heinous crime and that justice will be served for Anjali,” said a local resident. (With inputs from PTI)