Mercedes owner charged with culpable homicide

The police on Saturday interrogated the Mercedes owner whose minor son allegedly knocked dead a 33-year-old youth with the vehicle in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area after a city court remanded him in its custody. The case on Saturday took a new turn as the police is now probing whether the accused in the hit-and-run case is an adult, or a minor as stated earlier.

Police sources said that they were verifying the legitimacy of documents which showed the accused as a minor. The police will also confiscate the passport of the accused minor so that he doesn’t flee the country during trial, added sources.

The police is seeking legal counsel about going to a court and asking for the minor’s remand too as the charge in the case has been changed from IPC Section 304 A (causing death by negligence), which is bailable, to Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), which is non bailable. The step was taken in view of the past record of negligent driving by the minor who is learnt to have turned 18 years on Friday.

“During investigation it emerged that it was not the first offence of rash and negligent driving by this accused juvenile. In the past too he was found driving in a rash and negligent way, thereby causing a road accident with another vehicle,” the police said.

Last year, the minor was also challaned thrice — for over-speeding in April and June and wrong parking in February.

The father of the juvenile was on Saturday produced at the court which sent him to one-day police remand, DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.

The businessman will be confronted with a range of questions, mostly surrounding the mystery regarding the man who approached police on the day of the incident claiming to be his driver and taking responsibility for the act but later retracting.

More charges can be slapped on him depending upon the disclosures during interrogation, an official privy to the investigation said.

The case has been transferred to the district investigation unit for further investigation.