BMW driver gets remand for mowing down youth in Chandigarh

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Chandigarh, May 3

A local court today remanded Nawanshahr youth Swapan Preet Singh (26) in one-day police custody after he was arrested for allegedly mowing down a 24-year-old youth with his car near a hotel in a Sector 22 market on Friday around 11.30 pm. The victim, identified as Shubham, a resident of Dadu Majra Colony, died during treatment at the PGI on Monday.

A case has been registered against Swapan Preet Singh, owner of a gym in Nawanshahr, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 (1) of the IPC at the Sector 17 police station.

The complainant, Mani Khosla, a friend of the deceased and eyewitness, said on Friday night, he, Shubham, Tanish and Manthan were standing on the rear side of a liquor vend and were waiting on the road for a cab they had booked. A BMW car driver suddenly came there and applied brakes just in front of them. The car slightly brushed against Shubham’s leg. There were some arguments and counter-arguments between the two, following which one of them threatened to hit the other with the car while the other dared him to do it so, said the police.

The police said the suspect bought some beer bottles from a nearby liquor vend just before the incident. Eyewitnesses said the car driver dragged the victim on the bonnet of his car for a distance and then ran him over as he fell on the road. The incident was caught on a CCTV camera in which one more person is seen standing near the victim.

The luxury car, with a Delhi registration number, has been impounded. The police said a team was sent to Delhi which found that the car had been sold off a long time ago.

Car was abandoned near Burail jail

The deceased, Shubham, an employee of a garment shop in Sector 23, and his three friends were about to return home after a party. The 24-year-old succumbed to head injuries at the PGI. The suspect owns a gym in Banga.

The police said after the incident, the suspect and two other occupants of the car, including a girl, fled the spot. The police checked the CCTV footage of the liquor vend and identified the suspect. He had made the payment for beer through an ATM card. The address was traced to Banga near Nawanshahr.

The BMW car, bought by the suspect six months ago, was tracked near the Burail jail in Sector 51 where it was abandoned after it hit a road berm and the tyre punctured.

It took only three minutes, 19 seconds and a heady mix of alcohol and uncontrolled anger for the loss of a precious life.