Police clueless about cyclist's severed head in hit-&-run case

Tribune News Service

Aman Sood

Patiala, February 11

Over 40 hours after a random car race led to an accident after which the vehicle owners escaped with the head of the deceased, who was riding a bicycle, the police are clueless about the whereabouts of the five accused and the head of the victim.

Brother terms it murder

Terming it a murder and not an accident, Sanjeev Kumar, brother of the deceased, has sought a high-level investigation into the incident

2 suspects NRIs

• Initial probe suggests that two of the suspects are NRIs who recently returned to India
• Police feel the head of cyclist hit the glass shield of a Scorpio, got severed and fell inside the speeding car
• The torso of the victim was on Saturday handed over to the victim’s family for cremation

CCTV footage

In CCTV footage of the area near the accident spot, which is available with The Tribune, two persons are seen carrying a severed head in a carry bag. The two vehicles are seen in the background

Initial probe suggests that two of the suspects are NRIs who recently returned to India. The police suspect the victim’s head was thrown in a water channel by the suspects. It has become a curious case for the police, who have not been able to locate the missing head of the cyclist, who was mowed down by the two racing SUVs in Patiala on the District Administrative Complex road here. The police had recovered the torso.

Police sources said the head of the victim hit the glass shield of a Scorpio, got severed and fell inside the speeding car, while the torso bounced off due to the impact of the mishap.

“The four youths in the two SUVs escaped from the spot, allegedly with the head inside the vehicle,” they said, adding that

family members of the accused were using their “political clout” to strike a compromise with the victim’s family.

The deceased has been identified as Navdeep Kumar of Tafazalpura, who worked at tea and coffee vends at weddings. Two cars were allegedly involved in a race when the accident occurred.

DSP Jaswinder Tiwana said the suspects had been identified as Sukhman Singh of Sidhu Colony, Veer Partap Singh of Poonia village, Komalpreet Singh of Tandhian and Atinder Singh of Jogipur village.

“These four were in the two SUVs when the accident took place. Based on specific inputs, we suspect that a fifth accused, Navjot Singh, joined them later when they escaped with the head of the victim after parking the accident vehicle near Tripuri,” he said. “Two of them are NRIs and the probe is on,” he said.

A senior official claimed that the suspects had informed their relatives about the accident and that they were getting rid of the head by throwing it in a canal near Sirhind in the wee hours of Friday.

“However, divers have not been able to locate the head. The torso of the victim was today handed over to the victim’s family for cremation,” said the officer.

Sanjeev Kumar, brother of the deceased, said: “Navdeep had gone out for work. We reached the scene and found his torso.” Terming it a murder, he sought a high-level probe into the incident.

In CCTV footage of the area near the accident spot, which is available with The Tribune, two persons are seen carrying a severed head in a carry bag. The two vehicles can be seen in the background.

Tiwana said the police had impounded the two vehicles. One of the vehicles was found damaged at Harinder Nagar.

Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said efforts were on to recover the head of the victim and arrest the suspects. “In addition to Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 427 (causing damage) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC, we will add the section pertaining to destruction of evidence against the suspects,” he said, adding that raids were on to nab them.

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