Just after four days, the juvenile who mowed down a business executive under his Mercedes car on Monday, will turn 18 years.
It is this loophole in the law that allows him to walk free despite an accident case along with Delhi Police’s shoddy probe process.
Delhi Police’s tardy reaction regarding the case made him pass the medical test as the cops are clueless whether he was drunk or not at the time of the accident. Action against the cops might take place, sources said. On Monday night, the accused who was allegedly drunk, killed a 32-year-old business executive Sidhartha Sharma with his speeding Mercedes car in North Delhi’s Civil Lines area when he was driving the car with his juvenile friends as occupants. The accused who was released on bail by the Juvenile Justice Board is going to turn 18 on Friday. On the day of the incident, the accused was considered as a juvenile and hence he was booked under JJ Act only and will be considered as a juvenile throughout the course of hearing. If he would have been an adult, the sections under which he has been booked would be harsher, said a police official requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, the eye-witnesses told police that all the occupants of the car including the juvenile who was behind the wheel were allegedly under the influence of alcohol but soon after the accident, they ran away from the spot leaving behind the car.
Initially, the accused’s father — Manoj Aggarwal — intentionally wasted precious time of the cops repeatedly stressing the point that it was his driver who was driving the car. Later, the alleged driver confessed that Aggarwal had forced him to take the blame on him to save his son who is the main accused.
Police took almost 24 hours to resolve the matter and learn that Aggarwal’s son was driving the car. Later, at around 10 pm on Tuesday, he was apprehended from his residence and he confessed his involvement in the crime. According to sources, the concerned senior police officials are likely to take action against the officials because of whom the delay happened in identifying and apprehending the accused.
“Due to the delay in the apprehension, the medical test of the accused could not trace the presence of alcohol in his body. The traces of alcohol in the blood dilutes away after 4-5 hours of consumption,” the source added.
If the cops could manage to prove that the accused was in an inebriated state other relevant sections could have been slapped against him, he said. Meanwhile, police are likely to book Aggarwal for conspiracy.
Cops close to investigation told Millennium Post: “The accused was planning to buy a new luxurious car for himself on his birthday. Also, his first initiative after Friday was supposed to apply for a driving license as he cannot resist himself from driving a car.”