New Delhi: More than two years after a woman was dragged for over 12 km in Delhi, leading to her death, nearly 10,000 CCTV cameras proposed to increase surveillance on dark stretches are still to be installed, ThePrint has learnt.
Anjali Singh, a 20-year-old resident of Sultanpuri, was driving a scooter with her friend Nidhi on New Year’s Eve when a Baleno car hit her. Video footage showed Nidhi, the pillion rider, leaving the area unhurt, while Anjali got stuck under the car.
After the Kanjhawala incident on the intervening night of 31 December 2022 and 1 January 2023, in which Anjali was dragged for over 12 km in Outer Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the Delhi Police to increase CCTV surveillance of dark spots vulnerable to crime to enhance the safety of women.
Based on surveys by the district police, railways and metro units, the Delhi Police identified the spots and found that an additional 9,945 cameras were needed in the national capital.
However, two years later, the cameras are still caught in the tender issuing process, police sources told ThePrint.
“The estimated requirement of the CCTV cameras was calculated on the basis of the dark spots identified across the national capital. However, cameras haven’t yet been installed as the process for floating the tender is still ongoing,” a source said.
Delhi has 12,906 cameras installed under various schemes of the Delhi Police. An additional 9,500 cameras are to be installed under the Safe City project, which aims to improve safety for women in public spaces.
Back then, the police investigation had found that the men traveling in the car were in an inebriated condition. Anjali, the sole breadwinner of the family, remained stuck to the car as her calf muscles got stuck to the car axle.
Her body finally fell off nearly two hours after the accident near Kanjhawala Mor as the accused kept spinning the car in circles. Even as she was stuck under the car, a PCR (Police Control Room) van around 50-100 m from the accused’s car couldn’t spot the body.
At the time, the MHA had ordered the suspension of PCR police personnel for lapses in responding to the calls about the incident. Thick fog and dark stretches hindered police efforts to zero in on the Baleno car.
The four men—Amit Khanna, Mithun Kumar, Krishan Kumar, and Manoj Mittal—were charged with murder, rash driving, destruction of evidence, and criminal conspiracy in the hit-and-run case.
Three others—Deepak Khanna, Ankush Khanna, and Ashutosh Bhardwaj—were charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and harbouring offenders. Of the seven men, only Khanna, who was allegedly driving at the time of the accident, is still in judicial custody. The rest have got bail.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)