Kanjhawala case: Court questions delay in responding to PCR calls

New Delhi: A court here has directed the Delhi Police to file a report detailing the reasons for the delay in responding to the initial PCR calls made in the Kanjhawala case.

The court passed the directions while hearing the prosecution’s application seeking 14 days’ judicial custody of the six accused.

“He (Joint Commissioner of Police) shall present a report for the reasons attributable to the delay caused in responding to the initial PCR call…at 3.24 am and…at 4.11 am,” Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal said in an order passed on Monday.

Noting “various CCTV footage from day one till now” had surfaced, the judge directed the police officer to “ensure immediate preservation of the CCTV footage” at the place of occurrence “to avoid tampering of relevant technical evidence”.

“Further, a report in a sealed cover be filed by the next date of hearing regarding the presence or availability of all the CCTV cameras at the place of occurrence and the alleged route map of 12-13 kilometres adopted by the accused persons,” the judge said.

The report would also specify the number of CCTV cameras installed by the state government, including the functional and non-functional cameras, the judge added.

The court also sent six accused Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mithun, Manoj Mittal and Ashutosh Bhardwaj to judicial custody till January 23.

It said the investigation was at a nascent stage and there was sufficient material on record to justify the judicial custody remand of accused persons.

Anjali Singh, 20, was killed in the early hours of January 1 after her scooter was hit by a car which dragged her for about 12 km from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala.