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Road Rage
Cops hunt for 3 Doon students
Raju William
Tribune News Service

Dehra Dun, March 31
The police has launched a manhunt to nab three students of Doon School allegedly involved in a road rage incident that left one of two motorcycle-borne persons dead and the other seriously injured after being hit by their speeding car on the busy Rajpur Road here on Wednesday night. The deceased was a local schoolteacher.

The police is looking for the students identified as Abhimanyu Walia of 1572, Sector 34-D, Chandigarh, Pranav Sawroop of 119-B, New Mandi, Muzaffarpur, and Uday Pratap Singh of Defence Colony, Delhi, whose speeding Honda City (DL 3 CAK 5828) hit a bike coming from the Mussoorie side. The trio fled the spot.

The police has impounded the abandoned car along with some notebooks and ID-cards pointing towards the identity of its occupants.

A case has been registered under sections 304 A, 279, 337 and 338 of the IPC at the Rajpur police station on the complaint of Hari Singh, father of the deceased.

While one of the victims, identified as Vikrant Singh, succumbed to injuries in Doon Hospital, the other, Rahul Sharma, is battling for life at Jolly Grant Hospital. The deceased has a minor daughter.

SSP Sanjay K. Gunjiyal told The Tribune that they had sent police parties to Chandigarh and Delhi to catch the culprits.

The police could not confirm whether the boys were under the influence of liquor. The authorities of Doon School have been informed about the incident.

As per the police version, the boys were involved in a car race with other students, including some girls of another well-known school, after attending a party post the annual Class XII ISC examination. Some eyewitnesses brought this to the notice of the police, which also learnt that Walia, who was allegedly driving the car, had been egged on by the other two friends to drive fast. Consequently, the car hit the motorcycle.

The students had originally organised the party at Opel Restaurant on Rajpur Road. However, after learning about the presence of two Doon School teachers there, they shifted the venue to a farmhouse on the same road.

Doon School headmaster Kanti P. Bajpai said the boys were not staying in the school hostel due to some disciplinary action taken against them. As such the school owed no responsibility since the boys were no more under its supervision.

He, however, expressed grief over the loss of a life and injury to another.

Meanwhile, students of the deceased schoolteacher met the district magistrate, Dehra Dun, and demanded stern action against those responsible for rash and negligent driving, resulting in the death of their teacher.