New Delhi:
It was 6 am and Om Dutt Chauhan was half-way through his morning walk with his son near the Akshardham Temple in East Delhi. Suddenly, a BMW crashed right into him. It would later emerge that the car was trying to overtake a motorcycle when the driver lost control.
As the 62-year-old Chauhan crumpled into a heap on the ground, the police, bizarrely, focused its attention first on removing the three men in the BMW.
"They removed the accused from there, fearing a backlash from the public who had gathered there. So the accused was taken to police station and then the deceased was taken to hospital," said I. B. Rani, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, East Delhi.
Chauhan's son, Mahesh says he didn't have a mobile phone with him. He tried to flag down cars and autos for help. Nobody stopped. The policemen who had taken the occupants of the BMW to a police station took a half hour to return, he claims. The delay, Mahesh is convinced, killed his father. Before heading home to organize his father's cremation, he says "I will directly blame the police because they took away those who were involved, but did not help the one who was injured. I kept shouting, but they didn't listen. They just took them away.''
Mahesh says there was no need to worry about the BMW's driver and his friends being attacked by a mob. There was no mob there that could have turned hostile, he adds; the crowd that caused huge traffic jams during the morning rush hour gathered later.
The BMW's driver was Raman Singla, who is the Director of an advertising agency. He has been charged with rash and negligent driving which is punishable with a maximum of two years in jail.