Driver of car involved in accident that killed 3 women in Guwahati arrested

The driver of a car that met with an accident here two days ago, in which three women died, has been arrested from Dibrugarh, with police claiming that he was acquainted with the victims. Addressing a press conference here, Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic Jayanta Sarathi Borah said, Shamim Ahmed, who was driving the car, was arrested from Dibrugarh on Monday.

The driver of a car that met with an accident here two days ago, in which three women died, has been arrested from Dibrugarh, with police claiming that he was acquainted with the victims. Three women were killed when their car hit a stationary truck, rebounded off a road divider and flipped two to three times in the Mathgharia area here early on Sunday morning. Addressing a press conference here, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Jayanta Sarathi Borah said, ''Shamim Ahmed, who was driving the car, was arrested from Dibrugarh on Monday. He had initially fled to Shillong and was planning to escape to Arunachal Pradesh.'' ''He had shaved his beard and cut his hair to hide his identity. He was trying to apply for anticipatory bail,'' the officer added. The man has been brought to the Noonmati police station here. Police said that Ahmed was driving the car and was an acquaintance of the deceased. He went missing after taking the victims to a nearby hospital, they said. Borah said the car's route was tracked through the GPS attached to the vehicle, and Bhargab Deka had access to it. The car was registered in the name of Pankaj Kumar Dutta of Dhemaji, who had given it on rent to an agency run by Deka in Guwahati. ''Ahmed had taken the car through Deka on April 25. We located the car at the parking lot of a mall in the Bhangagarh area of the city from 11 pm on Saturday to 3 am on Sunday. ''The three women and Ahmed had spent the time at a pub in the mall, and we have its CCTV camera. There is also a record of them paying a bill of Rs 19,000 at the pub,'' the DCP said. After leaving the mall, the car moved through the city at around 130-135 kmph speed, and was travelling at 96 kmph when it hit the truck at 4 am, Borah said. The DCP termed Ahmed's escape unscathed a ''miracle'', and said, ''Maybe he was wearing a seat belt, which saved him.'' Asked how Ahmed could flee after being initially helping in the rescue, the officer said that since the focus was on providing medical aid to the victims and police were not aware of his identity, he could have taken the chance to escape. On a police vehicle reaching the accident site within seconds, he said it was an emergency car from Noonmati police station, which was out on patrol.