On 25 June, we got a call at a little after 7 am. It came on my wife’s mobile phone. She picked up the call. The person on the other side said, "Sarthak has met with an accident. He has been taken to the hospital'
By the time we reached the hospital, the first thing we heard was, "Sorry, he's no more'. Our world came to an end there and then.
My son, Sarthak Mattoo, used to work with an event management company base in Gurugram. On 24 June, he was on the phone with his colleagues for a long time because they had an event coming up.
On 25 June, he may have had a meeting or a recce, for which he was headed to Noida from Gurugram oh his bike when he met with an accident happened near the Rajokri border near Delhi's Vasant Kunj locality.
'One of The Passersby Helped By Calling the Police'
One noble soul who was passing by witnessed the accident. He clicked a picture of the Mahindra Thar SUV, which had a Karnataka registration number. He then called the police and informed them about the accident.
But, by the time they took him to the hospital, he was gone. The men in the car had left him to bleed on the road.
As per police records, Sagar Saha from Bihar and Apoorva Singh from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, who were more or less the same age as Sarthak, were attending an engagement party somewhere in Mayapuri in West Delhi.
From what we have been told, at around 2:30 am, Sagar Saha left Mayapuri for Gurugram. Between 6 am and 6:30 am, they went out for a ‘joy ride’. Now, I don’t understand: you are coming from Delhi to Gurugram at 2:30 am, and at 6 am you are going on a drive.
This means that you are sleep-deprived, and your body is not 100% functional. Maybe they would have taken drugs... who knows. They went on the drive. And as luck would have it, they hit my only child. And the worst part is that they left him on the road. They did not help him.
'My Son's Killers Are Roaming Free'
The next day, I received a call from the police station, informing me that they had caught the people in the car. But they were later released on bail under Sections 281 (rash driving) and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Since offence under these sections are bailable, they are roaming free when they should be behind bars. It may not be intentional, but it is culpable homicide. Why did they not pick up my son and take him to the hospital?
He comes in my dreams and says, ‘Papa, I need justice.’ I am not able to sleep. Look at us... we are devastated. I am not letting them go scot-free. What else is left in our lives? We lost our only child.
They were able to get bail only because BNS Section 106(2), the hit-and-run provision, has not yet been implemented in the country.
I request the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and the Delhi Police Commissioner for justice for my child. This law, Section 106(2), which has been kept in abeyance due to protests by truck drivers, should be implemented.
Today, we are in pain; tomorrow, someone else may be appealing in pain. What will you do then? We are common people. We do not have any influence, so we are making this appeal with the help of the media. Somebody needs to take a call and change this law.
FIR and Delhi Police's Response
In a statement on 27 June, Abhimanyu Poswal, Additional DCP, South West Delhi, said, "Immediately after the information was given to us about the accident, an FIR was registered and the investigation was started. The offending vehicle in the case, a Mahindra Thar, was traced."
Upon further investigation the police came to know that the vehicle was registered in the name of a private company and was leased to Sagar Saha.
On being questioned, Sagar told the police that the car was being driven by Apoorva Singh. "Apoorva Singh was apprehended in the case and sent for medical examination. Further investigation in the case is underway," the DCP said.
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