Delhi police to reopen 2009 accident case to charge car driver with culpable homicide

Delhi police will reopen a 2009 accident case to file a supplementary chargesheet stating that the man injured then died last year because of the negligence of the driver of the vehicle that hit him, officials said on Friday.

A Nepalese national, Jeet Bahadur Basnet, was hit by a car in 2009 near the Safdarjung airport and the man driving it was acquitted in October 2017 for want of evidence.

Basnet's life was saved but he lost his memory and speech after the accident.

Officials said police will reopen the case to add Section 304 A (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code in the case.

The chargesheet will also contain the detailed accident report, Basnet's medical and postmortem report, police said.

Police had failed to track Basnet's identity as he was unable to remember anything about himself after the accident.

For nine years, Basnet stayed at a Shanti Niketan Social Welfare Home. And in November last year, he died due to pneumonia, a senior police officer said.

During his stay at the shelter home, Basnet had scribbled notes which helped police track his village in Nepal.

"He had scribbled Malma Dhaulagir in a jumbled form. When police Googled the name, they found it to be a village in Nepal. We also corroborated this with Nepali workers (here). Then, we contacted the Nepal embassy to find more details," the officer said.

The local administration was contacted, which informed Delhi police that the man, with a description matching Basnet's, was missing since 2009 in India.

"Basnet's wife, son, daughter, along with his younger brother, who is with the Gorkha Regiment of the Indian Army, identified the body in December 2018. The body was returned to his family in December," the official added.