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A 43-year-old taxi driver was killed after being dragged alongside his own car by robbers for at least a kilometre on NH-48 on Tuesday night in Delhi, said police, after a video of the horrific incident surfaced on social media, sparking shock and outrage. Two men were arrested for the murder and robbery, said Delhi Police officers, adding that they boarded the car as passengers.
Delhi Police registered a case of murder against the suspects, even as investigators were yet to piece together the sequence of events and ascertain how the man got stuck to the car.
The incident, however, triggered memories of a similar death in the Capital on New Years’ Day this year, when a car hit a 20-year-old woman in Kanjhawala and dragged her body around the area for nearly seven kilometres.
Police identified the victim as Birender Shah, who lived in Faridabad with his wife and five children and drove a taxi for a living. A police van took him to hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
The victim’s brother said investigators told the family the car was booked for speeding at Dhaula Kuan around 11pm. However, it is unclear who was behind the wheel, or if the man was being dragged at the time.
The suspects – identified by the police as Mehraj Salmani (33) and Mohammad Asif (24) – were arrested from their hometown Meerut on Wednesday evening and the car recovered from their possession.
The Vasant Kunj North police station was informed on 11.20pm that the grievously injured body of a man was found in a puddle of blood near the NH-48 service lane, which is 9km away from the Delhi airport.
A 51-second video of the incident shows the man, wearing what appears to be a blue uniform, stuck to the right side of a Maruti Swift Dzire bearing a Haryana registration number and being dragged down the busy highway. His right hand appears to be caught in the car. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
The car slaloms through traffic, dragging the seemingly lifeless man along. The video ends with the man being released from the car, which runs him over with its rear wheels. To be sure, it is unclear where precisely on NH-8 the video is shot, though it appears to be a spot about half a kilometre before the Mahipalpur flyover.
Another video shows the man’s body lying by the side of the road – his clothes are in tatters, his skin is peeling off and he appears to be soaked in blood.
Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Manoj C said a first information report (FIR) under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code was registered.
“A further investigation is underway,” he said.
Shah’s two brothers, Nagender Saha and Rajesh Gupta, said the car seen in the video belonged to the victim and that he bought it six months ago. They said he had been working with cab aggregator services since 2010 and was the family’s lone breadwinner.
“He used to spend all his money on his children’s education and wanted them to do well in life. His eldest daughter is in Deshbandhu College and preparing for the civil services examination,” said 40-year-old Nagender Saha, who lives in east Delhi’s Dallupura.