Abandoned on footpath, another accident victim dies in Delhi

NEW DLEHI: In a shocking case, an ice-cream vendor hit by speeding car in central Delhi was taken away by the erring driver on pretext of treatment but abandoned on a footpath to die, police said on Friday. Victim Amrit Lal of Kali Bari area in central Delhi, died on the footpath of Peshwa Road in central Delhi after he was dumped there by the errant driver, who has since been arrested, police said. According to eyewitness Sunil Kumar, with whom the victim worked, Amrit was crossing the road near the GPO area around 9.30 p.m. on August 9 when a speeding Toyota vehicle hit him and dragged him for several metres. "After hitting Amrit, the driver, in his mid-20s, came out and asked the crowd to let him take the victim to hospital for treatment," Kumar said. "After he left with the victim, we went to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital to check his condition but didn't find him there." "As a few people had made a PCR call, police found his body the next day on the footpath after which I was called to identify him," Kumar added. The errant driver Surjeet, 25, was arrested after the police found the details from the vehicle's registration number given by the eyewitnesses. "It is very unfortunate that he pretended to take the victim to hospital but abandoned him on the footpath," Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal told IANS. "After registering the case, we acted swiftly and arrested Surjeet on Thursday," Narwal said, adding that Amrit died due to lack of medical treatment. In a similar case, 32-year-old Matbool, a resident of West Bengal, bled to death on Wednesday morning after he was hit by a speeding goods auto-rickshaw driven by a milk distributor in west Delhi's Subhash Nagar area. Matbool was left unattended for over 90 minutes. Even his mobile was stolen by a rickshaw-puller.