Four arrested after bike taxi passenger killed in 'racing' crash in Dehradun

Dehradun, Mar 1 (PTI) Police have arrested four men in connection with a crash during alleged racing in Rajpur Road area here that claimed the life of a bike taxi passenger, officials said on Sunday.

The accused have been identified as Pranjal Ramola (22), Abhishek Badoni (21), Lokendra alias Lokesh Bijalwan (22), all residents of Uttarkashi, and Sumit Rathauri (22) from Dehradun.

The incident occurred on Friday night near Aketa Hotel on Rajpur Road when the accused were allegedly racing and trying to overtake each other at high speeds.

According to the police, the victim, Ankit Pal was travelling as passenger on a Rapido bike taxi when the vehicle was struck by two other motorcycles.

The impact caused Pal and the bike taxi rider to fall, resulting in serious injuries. Both were taken to Doon Hospital for treatment, where Pal was dead on arrival.

Following the incident, a case was registered on Saturday based on a complaint lodged by the victim's mother, Usha Pal.

CCTV footage from the area showed that after the first motorcycle struck the victim's vehicle, a second motorcycle following closely behind ran over him as he lay on the road, the police said.

During interrogation, the accused admitted they were competing to get ahead of one another, a police officer said, adding that the pillion riders were also found to have been instigating the riders to increase their speed.

He said the combination of excessive speed and poor visibility near the hotel led to the fatal crash.

The accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and for overspeeding on a busy public road, the officer added. PTI DPT AKY