The deceased was identified as 22-year-old Rahul, a resident of Majnu Ka Tila.
The complainant was a 40-year-old woman, who drives an e-rickshaw. She came to the Civil Lines police station at 11.15pm Saturday.
“She was very perturbed and terrified, and said that an auto driver had abused and harassed her outside the Vidhan Sabha metro station,” an officer said. Initial inquiry revealed there was an argument between the two over passengers.
Hit-and-run sparks over 4-hour protest
Cops probing the hit-and-run outside the Civil Lines police station, in which an auto driver accused of harassment by a woman was killed, said two cases have been registered. In the first, the auto driver, Rahul, was booked under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman). The second case was registered under IPC sections 304 A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) against the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident.
According to police, soon after the woman came to the police station and complained about the alleged misbehaviour, three policemen escorted her to the metro station, where they found Rahul in an inebriated condition and asked him to come along with them.
At the police station, Rahul was parking his auto outside the gate when the complainant began to get aggressive and the staff tried to pacify her, said an officer. At that point, Rahul attempted to escape but was hit by an unidentified vehicle. Soon after Rahul’s death, his relatives and other people reached the police station and protested for almost four hours.