Amid massive public outrage, the Union home ministry had ordered a probe.
Murder charges should be filed against the five men who were involved in Delhi's hit-and-drag case in which a 20-year-old died, the Union Home Ministry has directed, sources told NDTV. The ministry also asked that the policemen who ignored the multiple SOS calls from eye-witnesses that night be suspended immediately, sources said. The ministry's instructions came after it received the report of an investigation it had ordered into the shocking case the nation woke up to on New Year.
The five drunk men had hit Anjali Singh's scooty on New Year and as she rolled under their car and got tangled in the undercarriage, they drove for 13 km, trying to dislodge the body. A postmortem examination showed the woman died of horrific impact injuries, her head fractured, and skin peeled off. Her friend who was riding pillion, sustained minor injuries.
The police, who were out in strength in view of it being New Year's eve, did not respond to multiple calls alerting them to the situation.
Amid massive public outrage, the Union home ministry had ordered a probe.
The investigation, conducted by a senior police officer, has found personnel in three PCR vans and two police pickets guilty of negligence.
Sources said the ministry has instructed that a showcause notice also be sent to the District Police in-charge. The officer should clarify what was the law-and-order situation in the area at the time. In absence of a satisfactory response, action should be taken against him as well, sources said.
The five men in the car, who are under arrest, told the police that they had panicked after hitting the scooty and had no idea that the woman was stuck in the undercarriage. They said they were drunk, having polished off two bottles of alcohol on way back from Haryana's Murthal. They heard nothing as the music in the car was loud, they claimed.
The police now say they have established through CCTV footage that the men were completely aware that the woman was stuck under their car.
Earlier this week, the police told a Delhi court that one of the six CCTV footages they have shows two of the men getting off the car two minutes after the accident and seeing the trapped woman. Then they drove on, trying to dislodge the body.
The men have so far been charged with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder", rash driving, and causing death by negligence.