Anjali Singh and her friend Nidhi went to a party where they consumed alcohol and it is not necessary that the family is aware of what their children are doing. As expected, to probably avoided the social stigma the family of Anjali Singh, who was hit and dragged by a car, rejected the statements of Nidhi that she was drunk at the time of the incident, and said they had never seen or heard of Nidhi, while police quizzed seven people present at a New Year party attended by the two women before the accident.
A post-mortem report stated that Singh had sustained 40 injuries over her body due to the drag. Her “brain matter” is missing and she had multiple contusions, abrasions and lacerations, the doctors found. The family doctor of the victim also rejected Nidhi’s claims that she was heavily drunk on the night of the incident, saying the autopsy report did not find any trace of alcohol in her stomach. Police, however, said Nidhi will be their prime witness as they recovered more CCTV footage to piece together the events of the night when Anjali met her brutal death.
According to the footage recovered so far, it has been found that Anjali and Nidhi stepped out of the hotel at 1.16 am, then had a fight and subsequently left the hotel at 1.32 am. However, a CCTV grab recovered near Nidhi’s residence shows that she reached her home around 1.37 am, just five minutes after leaving the hotel, raising questions over police’s claim that the accident happened around 2 am. A senior police officer said the CCTV device near Nidhi’s residence was set 50 minutes late, hence the discrepancy. They have seized the DVR and that will explain the glitch. Further, these are CCTV footage from different locations and installed by different entities, so there may be differences in time.
Police visited Nidhi’s residence, a day after her statement was recorded, in which she had claimed that she had known Anjali only for 15 days and it was for the first time that they had gone out together. One of Nidhi’s neighbours told police that she came home around 2.30 am on Sunday…She had injuries on her legs and head and said she had an accident. During its investigation, police checked the hotel records and it was found that the room was booked in the names of Anjali and Nidhi, and their Aadhaar card photocopies were in possession of the hotel authorities.
Seven men, suspected to have been at the party with Anjali and Nidhi, have been questioned till now. Police said they are also collecting call detail records and mobile phone dump data of the victim, the accused and Nidhi. Meanwhile, a team comprising four members of the Forensic Science Laboratory in Rohini along with Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Harendra Kumar Singh re-examined the Baleno car that had dragged Anjali and recreated the crime scene.
The blood samples of the five accused were received to ascertain if it has traces of alcohol. Anjali’s post-mortem report, prepared by a three-member medical board, found “no injury present to the genitalia and semi-digested food material was present inside the stomach”. Special Commissioner of Police Shalini Singh, who is probing whether there were any lapses on the police’s part in handling the PCR calls received in connection with the incident, visited Sultanpuri police station to check and analyze the case files.
Also, more CCTV footage emerged where Nidhi is seen returning home around 2.30 am, about 45 minutes after they left the party venue leading to questions being raised about the timeline of the events on a fateful night.
During the interrogation of the 5 accused, the Delhi Police found out that the car that allegedly hit Anjali was being driven by Amit and not by Deepak. It was also discovered that two more people were involved in the incident. The names of the other two accused have been revealed to be Ashutosh and Ankush Khanna. Both the accused tried to protect the 5 others by tampering with evidence and giving misinformation. The police said both are on the run currently.
The body was found at around 4:15 am. The distance between the two points, where the incident took place and where the body was found is around 10-12 km, but it is not possible to say how long the body dragged. The Delhi Police is working around the clock to file the charge sheet as early as possible. A total of 18 teams of Delhi Police are investigating this case. The police at present are also exploring the legal process to take this case to a fast-track court. An investigation is also underway with regard to the delay in the Police PCR response.
