Six police teams were formed which scanned over 100 CCTV footage. (Representational)
With the arrest of a 45-year-old contractor, the Greater Noida police on Sunday claimed to have cracked the hit-and-run case in which three engineering students were left injured, one of whom continues to remain hospitalised.
The contractor was returning from a party on New Year's eve and allegedly in an inebriated state when the accident happened, a senior police official said, citing the confession of the accused.
Six police teams were formed which scanned over 100 CCTV footage, took the help of electronic surveillance and manual sources to trace the white-coloured Santro car and its driver involved in the January 31 incident, the official said.
Sweety Kumar (22), who hails from Bihar, and her two friends were walking on the road when they were hit by the Hyundai Santro car around 9 pm on December 31, police said.
According to hospital officials, the woman's friends Karsoni and Anganba suffered minor injuries and were discharged the next day while Sweety underwent brain surgery at a private hospital earlier this month.
She is stable now and able to talk, they said.
"The three B.tech students were near the Alpha 2 bus stand and walking towards Delta sector when they were hit by the unidentified car." Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Dinesh Kumar Singh said.
"They were rushed to a hospital and two of them were discharged the next day. Sweety continues to be in hospital," he said.
"From the information shared by Sweety's friends, CCTV footage from nearby areas was scanned, while police teams also inquired about the Santro car from car mechanics in the region," he said.
"Footage from Modern Public School showed three vehicles -- an Audi, a Santro and a Baleno. The Baleno driver had helped the injured students reach the hospital," Singh said.
The Audi seen in the video was searched and its driver informed the police of having noticed the Santro car, which was white, but could not recall its full number except for its registration number which was UP 16 (Gautam Buddh Nagar), the officer said.
On the basis of this confirmation, police teams worked on the information and reached out to several car mechanics in the region, he said.
"We had started tracing the white Santro car and got information from a mechanic about one such car going to a workshop in Tughalpur village. This vehicle had a number UP 16 AB 2700, a 2014 model and its owner is one Gulab Singh, a contractor by profession," ADCP Singh said.
"During the inquiry, he admitted that he was returning home from a party on December 31 and was drunk when he hit the students. He also admitted that he was so sloshed that he has no recollection of what happened that night and how he managed to reach home," the officer said.
The contractor's admission was also cross-verified by a mechanic who informed the police that his car had come to his workshop with damaged glass, the police officer said.
"The accused had told the mechanic to change the glass, saying 'What has happened, has happened'," ADCP Singh added.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Laxmi Announced a Rs 25,000 reward to the police teams involved in cracking the case.
The Gautam Buddh Nagar police had earlier extended a financial help of Rs 11 lakh to Sweety's family to meet her medical treatment expenses, with the police chief contributing Rs 1 lakh of the total amount.
The FIR in the case was lodged at the Beta 2 police station and further legal proceedings are underway, the police added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)