delhi

Updated: Aug 21, 2018 07:46 IST

A 50-year-old woman was killed in Connaught Place after she was run over by an SUV being driven by a 20-year-old fashion student on Sunday night. Police said the victim was dragged by the vehicle for nearly 300 metres before they managed to stop the car.

The driver of the SUV — a black Jeep Compass — was arrested after she was stopped at a police picket nearly 300 metres from the accident spot. The victim was still underneath the vehicle when it was stopped, the police said.

Police said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the arrest. They have identified the deceased woman only by her first name, Phoolwati. She lived in a night shelter near Bangla Sahib Gurdwara with her husband.

The driver of the car, identified as Shreya Agarwal, a graduate student from National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai, was arrested. She hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, the police said. Two of her friends were in the vehicle with her.

The accident took place around 9pm when the SUV, which had three occupants, took a left from Baba Kharak Singh Marg to the lane leading to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, the police said.

The victim was standing on the roadside in front of a restaurant near Shivaji Stadium bus terminal when she was struck by the vehicle. Police said the driver panicked after the accident and tried to flee the spot despite being chased by onlookers.

Two police officers from Connaught Place police station, who were deployed at a picket on Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, opposite Lady Hardinge Medical College, spotted a crowd running behind an SUV being driven on the wrong side of the one-way road. When they stopped the car, they noticed that the victim was stuck under the rear-left tyre of the SUV.

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“I initially tried to stop the vehicle by stepping in front of it, but as it was speeding, I dragged a barricade in front of the car to force it to stop. I saw that a woman was stuck under the car’s rear-left tyre. She was bleeding and appeared to be unconscious. A few people, who had been running after the vehicle, overturned the car and pulled the woman out. The crowd told us they had been chasing the car for nearly 300 metres,” said a police officer who was on the spot, but is not authorised to speak to the media.

The police officers said they rushed Phoolwati to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where the doctors pronounced her brought dead. She had sustained fatal injuries to her head and neck, the officer said.

The victim’s body was sent for a post-mortem examination and her husband, Sushil Kumar, was informed.

Police said the angry crowd of onlookers tried to vandalise the vehicle, but they were controlled by police present at the crime scene.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said, “Shreya Agarwal was arrested. She was not found to be drunk at the time of incident. We have registered a case of rash driving under Section 279 and for causing death due to negligence under Section 304A of IPC at Connaught Place police station.”

DCP Verma said they are also checking the CCTV footage of the accident in order to establish the sequence of events.