The cop was on way to Faridabad, when right opposite to the Tughlakabad metro station, the vehicle rammed into a group of six persons, who at the time were cleaning the road after barricading it.
Even as the buzz over the high-profile Salman Khan hit-and-run case is yet to subside, three women sanitation workers were run over in the national capital on Tuesday morning by a car driven by a police officer, who was returning from the night duty. While the sub-inspector admitted to that he dozed off at the wheels, the police are probing whether he was drunk at the time of incident.
The incident was reported from Mehrauli-Badarpur flyover at around 8.50 am, when, as claimed by the police, the accused sub-inspector made a call to the police control room and informed them about the accident. The cop was on way to Faridabad, when right opposite to the Tughlakabad metro station, the vehicle rammed into a group of six persons, who at the time were cleaning the road after barricading it.
Identified as Rishipal (59), a resident of Sant Nagar in North Delhi, the sub-inspector is said to have left the Police Headquarters in ITO in his private Santro car after completing his night duty. Rishipal is posted in the Police Control Room department where he used to be deployed with a PCR van to make rounds of the adjoining areas.
He was taken into custody immediately after the incident and booked under section 304 A (causing death by negligence). During questioning, Rishipal said he was planning to see a plot in Faridabad as he wanted to settle in a 'peaceful fringe area' of the national capital region (NCR).
"We six were there; three were sweeping, two were collecting the waste and myself was loading the same into a reydi (vehicle). Just when we were almost done with our work and were proceeding to leave, a speeding white car rammed into us. Almost all of us collapsed but three never got up. We didn't let the driver go and soon police arrived," said Lal Chand (42), who was among the lucky three.
The deceased are identified as Shakuntala, Meera (both 55) and Maya (28). The women were residents of the Lakadpur locality, which houses an overwhelming population of daily wagers and construction workers.
Bimla, the sister-in-law of Shakuntala (one of the deceased) was not far away when she heard screams from the flyover. "Someone told us that there has been an accident on the bridge and some women have died. I ran towards the site of the accident and was shocked to see Shakuntala's lifeless body," Bimla told dna.
Sitting outside the police station, her elder son, Rajbir Singh, said he was in Muradabad when he heard about the incident. "I am yet to come to terms with what has happened," he said before breaking down into tears.
Meera's children include two daughters, Khushboo (17) and Nitu (12), and son Neeraj (23) who is differently-abled.
Maya's two kids (both under 10) were brought to the police station but soon were taken back as the elders, who were with them, suggested that it would be better for them not to see the bodies.
According to Mandeep S Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (South East), Rishipal made a call to the PCR and was arrested from the spot. While one of the injured was killed on the spot, the other two women were taken to two city hospitals (Apollo and GLS in Faridabad) where they succumbed to injuries.
"There was blood all over the place. The women were fighting for life, and their slippers, dupattas and other belongings were lying scattered. It was a horrible sight," said Sonu, another sanitation worker.
The cop was taken to a hospital where he underwent a medical test to verify if he was in an inebriated state. During questioning he told the investigators that he was sleep-deprived and had momentarily slept off while driving the car. The cop has another seven months to retire.
After the incident, relatives and acquaintances of the deceased women gathered outside the Badarpur police station and later in the evening also took to protest over the delay in handing over of the bodies which were at that time undergoing an autopsy.
"This is the life of the poor. There is no peace, not even after death," declared Geeta, a sanitation worker friends with one of the deceased
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