Police probing criminal angle in Hari Nagar hit-and-run case

Police are investigative criminal nuances in the Hari Nagar hit-and-run case in which a 35-year-old man hit by a delivery van bled to death on the road. “The accused van driver Rajesh was arrested yesterday and now we are investigating the remaining criminal, investigative nuances of the Hari Nagar hit-and-run case,” Joint Police Commissioner (south west) Dependra Pathak told reporters.

With the arrest of the main accused, efforts are also being made to identify and nab the rickshaw puller who stole Matibul’s phone as he bled and needed urgent medical attention, he said. The officer rejected allegations of delay by police over wrangling on jurisdiction saying it was “bereft of truth”.

“The only thing was that the police first took it as a murder case but later CCTV footage proved it to be a hit-and-run case,” he said.

On the CCTV footage which shows a PCR van passing by without attending to Matibul, the officer said the police vehicle was going to take another “sensitive call” and “it’s possible it could not saw him”. 

“Many people passed including the PCR van which was rushing to attend a sensitive call. As many people passed by the same road where Matibul laid, it is possible that some saw him and others could not, including the PCR van, which was moving in the opposite carriageway of the road,” he said.

Police, with the help of some citizen will arrange proper transportation of Matibul’s body to his native place in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, he said.

The deceased, who worked as a security guard, was badly injured after being hit by the delivery van and died on the road in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar area in the wee hours of August 10.

A CCTV footage showed several passersby go past him, and the rickshaw puller even taking away his phone, as he lay on the road bleeding.

“No good samaritanis are detained or forced to disclose his or her identity and therefore Delhi Police appeals to the general public to offer immediate help to any accident victim, which could save someone’s life,” said the officer.