NEW DELHI: A Delhi sessions court was told on Monday that the Delhi Police will invoke section 302 of the IPC (punishment of murder) against the accused in the Kanjhawala accident case. Anjali Kumari (20) was dragged to death after being trapped under a car for nearly 1012kms in the city.
The development came three days after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs directed the Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to suspend the police personnel who were deployed in three PCR vans and two pickets at the time of the accident for alleged negligence of duty amid massive outrage.
An offence of murder may attract death penalty or imprisonment for life and fine. Six of the seven accused in the case were initially charged under Section 304 IPC related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The offence attracts life imprisonment or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, besides fine.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar, meanwhile, reserved its order on the bail application of an accused Ashutosh Bhardwaj. During the proceedings, Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava said police will invoke the provisions of section 302 in the case. He said the actions of Bhardwaj, one of the accused, in giving the car to a person not authorised to drive, withholding the information about the crime and introducing the name of another co-accused as the driver was being investigated from the ‘conspiracy’ perspective.
Bhardwaj’s advocate moved the sessions court after his bail plea was dismissed by a metropolitan magistrate on Thursday. Last week, the Home Ministry, taking cognizance of the report submitted by the Special CP, suggested Commissioner Arora to issue a show cause notice against the investigation officer of the case. They also asked the Delhi Police to file a chargesheet in the said case at the earliest and also ensure that necessary step is taken for the prosecution of the accused.
Police had arrested Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26), and Manoj Mittal in the case on January 2. Later, they zeroed in on Ashutosh, who was arrested four days later.