Cops accused of delaying arrest in hit-n-run case

NAGPUR: A woman died on Friday morning after being run over by a car driven by an allegedly drunk driver on Thursday evening. The relatives of the woman have alleged that the Sitabuldi police station cops registered an offence against the driver only four hours later, at around midnight. They have also said that by not arresting the car owner as yet, the cops are allowing the drunk driver to weaken the case by delaying the medical test.
On Thursday evening, an alleged drunk driver going down the wrong side of the road knocked down 43-year-old woman Sonia Janbandhu in front of the tribal welfare office near RTO. Janbandhu succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a private hospital early on Friday morning.
Janbandhu's relatives and neighbours claim the police registered an accident case four hours after the mishap took place. According to a relative, the accident occurred around 7.30pm while the cops registered the FIR around midnight.
"Till 11pm, the incident had just been entered in the station diary. The case was registered only after some of us enquired about it," said neighbour Amol Sakhure, who also witnessed the accident. Amol said the car driver hit two more bikes after hitting Janbandhu. The vehicle came to a halt after it climbed over the divider and rammed into an electric pole. He said that as onlookers rushed to help Janbandhu, the driver escaped from the scene. Later, the car (MH-31 AH-1438) was seized by Sitabuldi police.
Janbandhu was rushed to a nearby private hospital at Ravi Nagar, where she died during treatment on Friday morning. Sakhure said that around 10pm they went to the police station to check whether the driver had been arrested or any offence registered against him.
"We were surprised to find that the incident was just entered in the station diary. The cops said the incident took place during the day officer's duty, and he will register the case. They asked us to come on Friday morning, when the day officer was to take charge again," said Sakhure.
Interestingly, Sakhure and a few others helped the cops find the accused driver's address from the RTO office. "Initially, the police sent us back, saying the RTO office is closed and hence they can't get the address. Later, we contacted the RTO officials and got the driver address," he said. As per the RTO information, the car belongs to Gulab Yognarayan Dubey, a resident of Laxmishah Apartment in Tukdoji Nagar, said Sakhure.
He alleged that initially police were not even willing to send a constable with them to RTO. Later, despite getting the address, police did not nab the accused. "The driver was drunk and hence we wanted the cops to arrest him early to catch him in an inebriated condition. But the delay has weakened the case now," said a relative.
On Friday morning, police changed the accident case to register Janbandhu's death.
Denying the allegations by relatives, Senior PI Vivek Joshi said they had filed the case in time. He said that the cops had also gone twice to arrest the accused but he was not present at home. He assured that the driver will be arrested soon.