'Agar tu nahi chala pa raha, toh hum chadha dete hain': Did co-passengers provoke Delhi Thar driver to run over security guard?

NEW DELHI: A man driving a Mahindra Thar deliberately crushed a security guard under the SUV for objecting to the driver’s incessant honking, near southwest Delhi’s Mahipalpur flyover on Sunday. The victim, Rajiv Kumar, 35, suffered around 10 fractures and other injuries.


Around 6.30am, Kumar was returning home after a night shift when the SUV started trailing him and honking loudly. “It felt deliberate. I asked them why they were honking so much,” Kumar said.
After a brief altercation, Kumar said he stepped back to let the vehicle pass. But the driver allegedly drove straight into him. “I was knocked down and crushed under the tyre. Somehow, I managed to save my head from being crushed,” he said.
Men in the backseat were provoking driver, says security guard hit by SUV
The SUV driver, a resident of Rangpuri near Vasant Kunj, has been arrested. Kumar, who works in a private company at IGI Airport, narrated the sequence of events. “I had just finished my night shift at the airport, 10pm to 6am. The company car usually drops me at a certain point, and from there, it’s a short walk to my rented home in Mahipalpur,” the 35-year-old told TOI .
He was just 10 steps away from home when the incident occurred. “There were four or five men inside. They started abusing me. Then they noticed the baton in my hand, which is part of my security gear, and said, ‘Danda dede humein’ (Give us the stick). When I refused, they started threatening me, saying things like, ‘Tujhe maar denge’ (We’ll kill you). One of them even said, ‘Tujhpe gaadi chadha denge’ (We’ll run you over)."
The guard alleged that the men in the backseat were provoking the driver. “They were saying, ‘Agar tu nahi chala pa raha toh humein de, hum chadha dete hain’ (If you can’t do it, let me drive, I’ll run him over). I didn’t understand what I had done to deserve this kind of aggression. I just wanted to get away, so I tried to calm things down and moved back to let their vehicle pass.”
The SUV, however, allegedly mowed him down. The guard suffered fractures in more than 10 places in both legs.
Police received information regarding the incident at Vasant Kunj South police station. A case under attempt to murder was registered and a police team scanned CCTV footage from the area to identify the vehicle.
“Within six hours, the accused, 24-year-old Vijay alias Lale, was traced and arrested. The offending vehicle, belonging to one of his relatives living in Vasant Kunj was seized,” a senior police officer said.
Kumar is the sole breadwinner for his family. “My wife and one-year-old child live in Bihar because I can’t afford to keep them here. My father is too old to work, and my brother isn’t mentally stable. Now I’m out of work, bedridden, and need money for an operation. I don’t know what I’m going to do," he said.
The officer added, “Vijay along with his friends, was coming from Gurgaon and heading to Rangpuri.” Police will be issuing a notice to the owner of the vehicle.
Vijay is unemployed and dependent on his father’s rental income business. His family owns multiple godowns across southwest Delhi.