The Hindu : Front Page : Four hurt as car rams into police barricade

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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Four hurt as car rams into police barricade

Ashok Kumar

The Injured include two policemen manning the post at Lodhi Colony in South Delhi

Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Grief-stricken: Family members of injured constable Ramesh Chand outside the AIIMS in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: In a hit-and-run case reminiscent of the infamous BMW accident, four persons, including two Delhi police personnel, were seriously injured when a speeding Maruti Esteem car ploughed into the barricade they were manning at Lodhi Colony here in the early hours of Sunday.

A Home Guards company commander and a photographer were the other two to be critically injured in the accident. All four have been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Vehicle checking

The accident took place around 2-30 a.m. when the police personnel conducting a routine check of vehicles at a police post near Sai Baba Mandir were knocked down by the speeding car. Head Constable Ramesh Chander (42), Constable Rameshwar (38) and Home Guards Company Commander Harish Raut (24) suffered multiple fractures in their legs and arms and serious injuries in the head.

Twenty-one-year-old photographer, Vinod Kumar, who was returning home from an assignment at Malviya Nagar, and had stopped outside the temple fractured both his legs. Home Guards Constable Rajender, who also was part of the police team, had a providential escape.

Car sped away

“The police team had put up four barricades on the road and were checking vehicles when a white Maruti Esteem car with tinted window panes ploughed into them. A devotee who had come to the temple was also injured in the accident. The headlights of the car were smashed, but the car sped away. It all happened so quickly that we could not even note down the registration number of the vehicle,” said eyewitness Barsaatipal, one of the two guards at the temple. He then called up the police control room and his fellow gun man rushed to the Lodhi Colony police station to seek help.

Soon Station House Officer S. J. Kaur accompanied by several policemen reached the spot and the injured were taken to the trauma centre in two PCR vans. Later in the day, several senior police officers visited the hospital to inquire about the condition of the injured policemen.

Amit Raut, elder brother of Harish Raut, said: “It was around 4 a.m. when we received a call from the police informing us about the accident.

He has multiple fractures in his right hand and leg and is still unconscious. Doctors say it may take at least five days before he gains consciousness.” Harish is pursuing graduation from the Delhi University through correspondence.

The police have found parts of a broken dark blue bumper, fog lights, side mirror and beading at the accident site. A cash reward of Rs. 25,000 has been announced by the police for providing any information leading to the arrest of the culprit.

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