New Delhi:
The family of Sarthak Mattoo, a 34-year-old event management company employee from Gurugram, has accused the police of delays in investigating a hit-and-run that killed him and has criticised the system for failing ordinary citizens. Delhi Police have rejected claims of delay in the medical examination of the accused.
Sarthak Mattoo was killed on June 25 near the Rajokri flyover in southwest Delhi when a Mahindra Thar allegedly struck his motorcycle and drove away. He was on his way from DLF Gurugram to Noida for work around 6:30 am. A passerby who saw the accident took him to hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre.
“No delay in medical. As soon as they were caught, medical was done,” South West Delhi DCP Amit Goel told NDTV. “The intoxication part will now come in forensic report. There was no delay in medical. It was done immediately on apprehension.”
Sarthak’s body was later sent for post-mortem at Safdarjung Hospital.
Surendra Mattoo, 66, Sarthak’s father, said he had bought his son an expensive helmet and made him promise to wear it for safety.
“I got him a very expensive helmet and made him promise that he would always wear it so he remained safe. He was wearing the helmet, yet it couldn’t save him. Now what do I do?” he said.
The father believes his son could have survived if the driver had stopped to help.
“He was travelling from DLF Gurugram to Noida for official work at around 6.30 am. At Rajokri flyover, a Thar took a sudden turn and hit him. The least the accused could have done was take him to the hospital, but he just ran over him and left him to die,” he said.
A passerby checked Sarthak’s unlocked phone, contacted an office colleague using call logs, and the family was informed.
“By the time we got to know, he had died,” Surendra Mattoo said. “He could have been saved if the accused had not fled and had immediately taken him to the hospital.”
Sarthak was the couple’s only child. The parents, both retired and working as consultants in a private organisation, belong to the Kashmiri Pandit community and moved to Delhi in 1984.
Police arrested 30-year-old Apurv Singh on June 28. The Thar was traced and seized. It was registered to a Bengaluru-based private company and leased to Sagar Saha, 29, a Bihar native working for the company and posted in Bengaluru. Saha was in the front passenger seat at the time of the accident.
Apurv Singh, originally from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh and living in Gurugram, was driving, police said.
