The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ordered the Delhi Police to press murder charges against the five persons involved in the horrific Kanjhawala death case, in which the 20-year-old Anjali Singh died after being dragged by a car for about 12 km in the early hours of January 1.
Notably, earlier the accused were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and criminal conspiracy.
The action was taken in response to a report submitted by an investigating committee led by Special Commissioner Shalini Singh. According to the report, based on the nature of the case and available evidence, the police have been ordered to investigate the matter by charging the accused in the Kanjhawala case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Besides, MHA has also directed the Delhi Police to take disciplinary action against the police personnel on duty on the night of the dreadful incident.
As per the report, the ministry directed Delhi Police on Thursday to suspend all personnel deployed in the three PCR vans and two police pickets, with immediate effect, because they failed to respond to calls informing them of the hit-and-run incident. The MHA also asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to serve show-cause notices to the supervising officers of the PCR vans and police pickets for alleged dereliction of duties.
The MHA asked the Delhi Police to file the chargesheet in the case as soon as possible in order to punish the perpetrators. The city police have also been directed to guarantee that the investigation does not stall and to send fortnightly progress reports to the MHA.
The MHA also stated that action must be taken to enhance the capital’s law-and-order situation so that people, particularly women and children, can live in a fear-free atmosphere.
Additionally, a thorough investigation will be carried out to ascertain whether the PCR van units should be merged with the district police for better coordination. Notably, the PCR vans were split from the district police a few years ago.
The Home Ministry, in the wake of the horrific death of Anjali Singh, also instructed Delhi police to conduct thorough investigations in regions of outer Delhi where there are few or no CCTV cameras and street lights. The govt has instructed the police to work with civic agencies to install CCTV cameras and street lighting in such places, according to officials.
The heinous crime occurred in Kanjhawala, outside of Delhi, in the early hours of January 1. A car hit the victim Anjali Singh’s two-wheeler, after which her clothes got tangled with the car and her body was dragged for around 10-12 kilometres from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala.
Delhi police, investigating the case, had earlier revealed that the accused were aware of Anjali being trapped under their car within minutes after her scooter was hit by them. The accused had claimed that they were drunk and while they knew that they hit the scooter, they were not aware that their car was dragging the woman.
Five accused in the case- Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mithun and Manoj Mittal were first arrested in the case. Later the Delhi police arrested Ashutosh and Ankush Khanna, who had tried to protect the accused. The duo was accused of tampering with evidence and misleading the police.