Kejriwal talks to LG Saxena on killing of woman dragged by car: 'No political link

 Delhi News

The incident happened when the woman was returning home from work, and the scooty she was riding was hit by a grey Baleno car.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that he has spoken with Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on the killing of a 20-year-old woman after she was dragged by car for nearly seven kilometres on Sunday. Taking to Twitter, he also took a veiled dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by saying that “no leniency should be shown” to the accused even if they have “high political connections”.

“Spoke to hon’ble LG on Kanjhawala incident. Requested him to take exemplary action against culprits, strictest sections of IPC should be slapped against them. No leniency should be shown even if they have high political connections. He assured that he will take strong action (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal had stressed upon strict action against the accused as he demanded death penalty for the five men, who reportedly were in drunk state when the incident occurred. “This can happen to anyone's daughter. No matter how influential, politically connected a convict is, he should be hanged,” he said at a press briefing.

Commenting on the incident, Saxena had earlier said that his head “hangs in shame over the inhuman crime in Kanjhawla-Sultanpuri today morning and I am shocked at the monstrous insensitivity of the perpetrators”.

Kejriwal's “no leniency” dig at the saffron camp comes as his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged a BJP link with one of the accused. During a presser earlier in the day, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that one of the accused - who with four others has been named in the case - is a “BJP leader named Manoj Mittal”.

“There is a cover-up in the entire incident because the L-G is aware of the involvement of a BJP leader. I challenge Vinay Saxena to publicise the call details of the accused,” Bharadwaj said after he, along with several other AAP leaders such as Durgesh Pathak and Gaurav Rai, tweeted on Monday with pictures of hoardings in Delhi with Mittal's photos. The official Twitter profile of the AAP also shared a post on this claim.

All five accused, meanwhile, have been sent to three-day police custody. This came after Delhi Police added sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the five accused in connection with the accident, people aware of the matter told HT. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Harendra K Singh said Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC were added to Section 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence) against the five men. The sections in which the case was lodged earlier were bailable, but Section 304 is not.