Hunt on for 2 men who 'shielded' Kanjhawala accused

The Delhi Police is on the lookout for two suspects in the Kanjhawala incident, who were allegedly involved in shielding the five accused who dragged a woman under their car, with police stressing that since there is no previous link between the accused and the victim, the charge of murder will be difficult to prove as intention is a key factor in such cases.

Police have so far arrested five men -- Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26) and Manoj Mittal -- in the case, but sources claimed that Deepak was not in the Maruti Baleno car that mowed down 20-year-old Anjali Singh on New Year.

After going through CCTV footage and call detail records, police have zeroed in on two more suspects -- Ashutosh and Ankush Khanna -- and said they were involved in shielding the accused. Police are on the lookout for the duo.

Ankush is accused Amit's brother. Amit does not have a driving licence and after he informed Ankush about the accident, the latter allegedly convinced Deepak, who is a Gramin Seva driver, to tell police that he was behind the wheel on the fateful day.

Police said section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been added to the first information report (FIR).

They said Ashutosh and Ankush were not in the car. Ashutosh also misled police by claiming that Deepak had taken the car from him when it was Amit who had taken it.

Deepak also happens to be a cousin of Amit and Ankush, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sagar Preet Hooda said.

Asked about any link between the accused and the victim, the senior officer said, "There was no connection between the accused and the victim and the accused and the eyewitnesses. This is what has been revealed so far in the investigation."

The sources claimed that Deepak was not in the car and was instead present at an undisclosed location when the accident took place.

He was called by one of the accused after the car hit the victim, they said, adding that he was the one who brought his uncle's autorickshaw to take the accused to their residences.

Fresh CCTV footage that could help police establish the sequence of events of the night shows that after handing over the car to Ashutosh, the accused leave the place in an autorickshaw owned by Deepak's uncle, but the driver's face is not clear.

The five accused have been sent to police custody for four days as the investigating officer told the magistrate that they needed to establish the nearly-13-km-long route the accused had taken to traverse in two hours on the fateful night.

Hooda said 18 teams are working on the case and all angles are being looked into.

He also dismissed the claims of the victim's family that they had never heard of or met her 'friend' Nidhi.

Hooda said around 25 to 30 calls were exchanged between Anjali and Nidhi between December 29 and December 31.

Nidhi had claimed that she was with Anjali when their two-wheeler was hit by the car, with the latter getting stuck under its wheels and succumbing to the grievous injuries sustained in the accident.

The victim's family had, on Wednesday, questioned Nidhi's claims and denied having heard of her or even meeting her.

Nidhi had allegedly fled the spot out of fear, without informing anyone about the accident.

Meanwhile, the family members and neighbours of the victim staged a protest outside the Sultanpuri police station here on Thursday and demanded that the culprits be hanged.

"It is not an accident. This was done deliberately and the incident should be treated like a murder case," said one of the protesters.

They also demanded that police add section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR.

However, Hooda said, "Intention is required for murder. Till now, no previous connection has been found between the accused and the victim. If intention is not established, it is difficult for police to prove the charge under section 302."

On allegations of a delay in the arrival of Police Control room (PCR) vans and calls not being answered, the officer said an internal inquiry is being conducted.

"It will be looked into whether it was a human error or some system glitch. Police deployment is more at places where the footfall is more," he added.

There were some technical glitches over footage timings that emerged.

More CCTV footage emerged on Wednesday where Nidhi was seen returning home at 1.37 am, about five minutes after she and Anjali left the venue of a party, leading to questions being raised about the timeline of the events on the fateful night.

However, Hooda said the incident occurred between 2.04 am and 2.06 am, while the victim's body was found around 4.15 am.

"Footage is emerging and we are investigating the matter," he said.

The sources said police have found a shoe and an earring from the spot where the victim's two-wheeler was found lying.

Teams from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) have found bloodstains and pieces of cloth from the car.

CCTV footage showed four people standing near an autorickshaw on a street around 4.30 am on Sunday. A car stops and three people, suspected to be the accused, are seen getting out of it and one of them scanning the vehicle's lower portion from its rear side.

One of those standing on the street is then seen boarding the car after which the vehicle leaves the area.

In a related development, the Aam Aadmi Party has accused police and the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'planting evidence' to malign the victim's image.

AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj slammed the BJP and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, alleging that 'facts are being twisted' to 'shield' those associated with the saffron party.

Meanwhile, Nidhi's mother said the accused had also tried to run her daughter over.

"This is not an accident. The accused tried to kill my daughter too. She did not inform police because she was scared. Even we got scared when we heard about it," she said.

Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Thursday said she will send a suggestion to the Centre to transfer the Kanjhawala case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and claimed that there were several discrepancies in the police investigation.