The jeep had hit a pedestrian at Sitapaila, Kathmandu on June 8. After hitting the pedestrian, the jeep fled the scene and the victim died while being treated at Shahid Memorial Hospital in Sitapaila.[break]
A special team of Victim Support Unit (VSU) deployed by MTPD rounded the jeep less than 24 hours despite the fact that there was not a single clue except a plastic wheel cover which was broken. Nobody could note the jeep"s number and there were no traffic police near the accident site.
According to MTPD, first they visited many workshops to find out the model of the jeep. After identifying the model, they visited showrooms to get the details about sold jeeps of the same model. After an elaborate search, the VSU succeeded in finding the jeep. The police contacted the owners and managed to identify the one that was involved in the accident.
The owner, who was himself driving the vehicle when the accident occured, has been identified as Saiyad Nashid Sah. Sah had kept the vehicle in his garage since the accident. According to MTPD, only four or five of the Mahindra jeep of the model XUV500 W8 had been sold in the Kathmandu Valley.
“It was one of our greatest achievements because with the help of a tiny piece of plastic our team has resolved the case,” says Pawan Kumar Giri, spokesperson at MTPD.
´We do not have CCTV camera in all the streets, which makes our investigation difficult,” said Giri. “The case was further complicated by the fact that there were no traffic police near the scene of the accident when it took place,” he added.
According to MTPD, Trilochan Thapa, 19, was the pedestrian who lost his life by the jeep accident. Permanent resident of Gulmi, Thapa was staying in Bishalnagar, Kathmandu.
According to him, lack of CCTV cameras, advanced instruments and training are some of the problems faced by the traffic police in carrying out investigations. “We conduct such investigation in the traditional way such as enquiring with the eyewitnesses and field visits,” he said.
“But such cases can be solved sooner if we are provided sophisticated equipments and training,” concluded Giri.
We have to deal with many hit-and-run cases, but lack of scientific methods and modern investigating tools cripples our ability to solve them quickly.
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