Driver who dragged accident victim for nearly a km held

The Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested a man who had dragged a student under his car for almost one km after hitting the victim's bike last week.

The arrest of the accused, Punit, 38, came three days after the incident.

The victim, Gurjot Singh, 20, who belonged to Uttar Pradesh'a Amroha district and was studying hotel management in a private university near Mohali, was killed on Saturday when the Hyundai Santro car being driven rashly by Punit hit his motorcycle from behind.

While two friends of the victim fell on the side and got only minor injuries, Gurjot got stuck under the rear wheels of the Santro car and was dragged along for around a km.

Motorists and other people who saw the accident victim struck under the car wheels tried to stop the Santro driver but he continued to speed up his vehicle to get away from the accident spot.

The whole incident was recorded by another motorist on his mobile phone and the video went viral. The car of the accused was identified from the video.

The nearly lifeless body of the victim got disentangled from the car on the Landran to Banur highway near Mohali town, 20 km from here, after some time. The victim was rushed to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical EducationAand Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, where doctors declared him dead.

Balongi police station in-charge Manjit Singh said that the Santro driver was arrested on Tuesday and charged of causing death due to negligence and rash driving.

The accused told the police that he continued to speed after hitting the bike as he got scared. He claimed that he did not know that the victim was stuck under his car and thought that the car bumper was making noise as it was damaged in the accident.

--IANS

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