Bengaluru: Investigating a fatal hit-and-run case wherein a motorcyclist was mowed down by a car at a T-junction on Tigalarapalya Main Road in Kamakshipalya, west Bengaluru, in the early hours of Nov 13, traffic police have managed to trace the four-wheeler to Channarayapatna in Hassan district and arrested its driver, Khwaja Moinuddin, 24.
Cops have also taken a statement from Manjunath, the car owner who was sitting next to Moinuddin when the accident occurred at 2.07am. CCTV footage from the spot showed the car driven by Moinuddin approaching the T-junction at high speed, while biker Shashikumar, a lathe worker, was coming towards it on a perpendicular cross road. seeing the car, Shashikumar applied sudden brake and his bike skid. It fell before the four-wheeler and Shashikumar came under the car's wheels. The car driver first moved forward and, on realising he had driven over the fallen man, reversed the vehicle, once more crushing Shashikumar under the wheels, before speeding away.
Initially, cops collected CCTV footage from the surrounding buildings, but it was not helpful in identifying the licence plate of the four-wheeler. However, some footage showed dents and scratch marks on the vehicle. Using these clues, cops scanned CCTV footage from the surrounding main roads, the Outer Ring Road, and Tumakuru Road. "Finally, we had a breakthrough from CCTV footage on a toll plaza on the elevated flyover on Tumakuru Road, and found the car's registration number. Soon, a team visited the toll booths on Tumakuru Road and found that the vehicle had travelled in the Kunigal direction. By then, we traced its owner, Manjunath, and contacted him," an investigating officer told TOI.
Manjunath revealed that it was his car and his driver, Moinuddin, was at the wheel on the fateful day. Confessing to the crime, Moinuddin said he realised the biker fell beneath his car and would die of injuries. "Fearing I would be arrested, I decided to drive away. My owner, Manjunath, sitting next to me, also suggested we should flee the scene," Moinuddin said in his statement.
Manjunath, a businessman from Channarayapatna, had come to the city with Moinuddin for business purposes, police said. Moinuddin has been booked under BNS Section 106 (for causing death due to negligence). The car has been seized.