The Dehradun Police on Thursday arrested a 22-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh for allegedly mowing down four labourers with a speeding luxury SUV in the state capital’s Rajpur area the previous day after a 24-hour hunt that led them to three states as the driver parked the car at an empty lot after fleeing the scene.
The police traced the Mercedes GLS400 across three states and multiple owners before eventually zeroing in on 22-year-old Vansh Katyal, who was taken into custody from near the ISBT area in Dehradun.
The car, which bore a Chandigarh registration, had sped away after mowing down four labourers and two people on a scooter near the Sai Mandir around 8.40pm, said Ajai Singh, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Dehradun. The four laborers died on the spot while the two scooter riders were injured.
Wednesday’s crash brought back grim memories of the November 12 high speed collision of a speeding vehicle that slammed into a truck, killing six students. The late-night crash, which left behind a trail of human remains, put in spotlight the reckless driving problem in the city, prompting police to then promise stricter enforcement.
Katyal has been booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 106 (causing death by negligence), 125 (endangering life by rash or negligent acts), 281 (rash driving) and 324 (4) (mischief causing damage) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Singh said.
Acting on a complaint by Sanjay Kumar, the uncle of one of the deceased labourers, the police formed multiple teams to track down the vehicle and the accused.
CCTV footage from the area revealed that out of the 11 vehicles that had passed by the accident site around the time of the incident, a silver-grey Mercedes with visible damage on one side was the suspected offender, Singh said.
The car’s registration number led the police teams first to Chandigarh, where records showed it was purchased by Harbir Automobiles Agency in February 2023. However, the dealership had resold the car to Vinny Autohub in Delhi in June 2023. The vehicle later changed hands again and went to another dealer, Delhi Car Mall, the SSP said.
Police teams then reached out to the last recorded owner, Jatin Prasad Verma, a Lucknow resident who had bought the car from the Delhi dealer in July 2024. Verma also has a home in Dehradun and frequently visits the city for his organic farming business, the officer added.
Further investigation and CCTV footage from Dehradun revealed that Katyal, who is Verma’s brother-in-law, was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. Katyal was staying in a rented flat in Mohit Vihar locality, opposite the Wadia Institute, after losing his job in Delhi, Singh said.
Based on information from a local resident, Mohit Malik, the police recovered the abandoned Mercedes from an empty plot in the Sahastradhara area late on Wednesday night.
Malik told the police that Katyal, his acquaintance, had parked the car near his house at night and borrowed his scooter, saying the Mercedes had developed a snag and he needed to drop his nephew in Jakhan.
“After dropping his nephew, Katyal returned the scooter to Malik and went away,” the SSP said.
Katyal, police said, is from Moradabad and did his BBA before working in Delhi where he claimed that he lost control of the Mercedes while trying to avoid two scooters that had suddenly come in front of the car.
The vehicle hit one of the scooters and then ran over the four laborers walking on the side of the road, Katyal told the police.
Forensic tests are being conducted to determine if he was drunk at the time of the incident, Singh said.
