Amid the outrage over the death of 20-year-old Anjali Singh in Delhi’s Kanjhawala, a similar incident, where a delivery person was allegedly dragged after being hit by a car and lost his life, has come to light in Noida.
What happened? On the night of 1 January, Kaushal Yadav, a delivery person working for online food aggregator Swiggy, met with an accident near sector 14 flyover in Noida. His body was dragged, the victim’s cousin brother Amit Kumar claimed in the First Information Report (FIR), a copy of which was accessed by The Quint. The victim’s body was allegedly dragged for 500 metres.
How did the family get to know? When his family tried to reach out to Kaushal on his mobile phone at around 1 am on 1 January, his phone was answered by an Ola cab driver, Amit Kumar has claimed in the FIR.
In the FIR, Amit claimed, "The cab driver informed us that Kaushal had met with an accident near the sector 14 flyover in Noida, and his body was allegedly dragged till Shani Mandir road. When they reached the spot, they found Kaushal’s body near the Shani temple."
What action has the police taken? The police has filed an FIR in the matter under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). No arrests have been made so far as the accused is still unknown. The police has also directed a post-mortem of the victim, and is going through CCTV footage to trace the vehicle that caused the accident.
Why was the Ola driver present at the scene of crime? The Noida Police has said that the identity of the Ola driver is yet to be ascertained. In a tweet, the police have said that they are still probing how the cab driver found the body of the victim, and what was he doing at the site where the accident allegedly took place.
Noida Police's statement on the case.
Photo: twitter/@noidapolice
The police also said that whether the body was dragged is still being confirmed through technical surveillance. The footage obtained from CCTV cameras so far is not clear due to dense fog, reports have claimed.
What has Swiggy said? In a statement, the online food delivery service told The Quint, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our delivery partner Kaushal Yadav in a heartbreaking incident. We are in constant touch with his family members and doing everything in our capacity to expedite this case, including processing insurance and offering legal support to his family.”
What had happened in Kanjhawala? In the wee hours of 1 January, a grey Baleno car hit a two-wheeler being driven by 20-year-old Anjali Singh in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri. The woman’s body got stuck under the car and got dragged for several kilometres.
Her mangled, semi-naked body was found in Kanjhawala at about 4.40 am. As per the brief history of the case in the PM report, she was taken to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital (SGMH) in Delhi’s Mongolpuri, where she was declared dead on arrival at 7 am.
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