Days after Audi injures 5 sleeping on a footpath in Vasant Vihar in South Delhi, driver granted bail

Indian Express

17 hours ago

'I was sleeping when I heard the sound of a car engine. Within a minute, it drove in our direction, ran over us… and then halted. Moments later, it sped away,' recalled Sabami (45), who works as a labourer. His wife and stepdaughter, and two friends, apart from him, were injured when a white Audi allegedly crashed into a footpath in South Delhi's Vasant Vihar in the early hours on July 9.
Allegedly drunk while driving the car, the accused, Utsav Shekhar (40), was arrested soon after the incident. He has been granted bail, police said on Sunday.
When the hit-and-run happened, a pedestrian came to their help, said Sabami, and noted down the vehicle's number to report to the police.
While Sabami was discharged from the hospital last week, his wife, Ladhi (40), is still admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.
Ladhi's daughter from a previous marriage, Bimla (11), and the couple's friends — Narayani (35), and her husband Ram Chander (45) — were among the others injured in the incident. All three have been discharged from the hospital. All of them hail from Ajmer in Rajasthan and came to Delhi 10 years ago, said officers.
It would still take Ladhi at least a week to recover, said the family. 'My wife suffered injuries in the neck and back, among other parts of the body. I just turned out to be lucky. If I too had suffered such grave injuries, who would have earned for the family?' he asked.
Ratan Lal, 35, Ladhi's brother, who works as a labourer in Gurgaon, said that he got to know about the accident on July 10 and has been at AIIMS since then.
'Ladhi's treatment is still on. I hope that we will get some help with the hospital bill. We don't have much to pay,' he said.
The accident took place near a petrol pump in front of Shiva Camp in Vasant Vihar. Around 1.45 am on July 9, a police control room call was made to report a crash in which five people were hit by an Audi car while they were sleeping on the footpath.
'Statements of eyewitnesses were recorded, wherein they stated that a white Audi Car ran over them while they were sleeping on the footpath,' DCP (South West) Amit Goel said.
According to the police, Utsav then allegedly went on to hit another truck, about 200 metres from the accident spot, before he was finally arrested by the Delhi Police. The accused, police said, is a property dealer based in Noida and was going towards his home in Dwarka.