Veggie vendor run over by SUV while mediating fight in Jhotwara

Jaipur: A 65-year-old man was mowed down by an SUV while he was attempting to mediate a fight in the city’s Jhotwara area on Friday night.
The victim, identified as Banwari Lal Kumawat, was preparing to close his shop around 9:30pm near Dadi Ka Phatak when he noticed a brawl at a nearby pan shop.
According to Kumawat’s relative Babu Lal, an altercation started between two youths and the owner of the pan shop.
“A youth involved in the fight ran over Kumawat with his SUV,” Lal told TOI on Saturday.
He also said that the family is demanding compensation for the death.
One local vendor recounted the incident stating that Kumawat stepped in to mediate in the fight when one of the youths got into an SUV and started to flee. While fleeing, he ran over Kumawat.
"The car hit Kumawat dragging him for a few metres before speeding away," he said.
The locals immediately took Kumawat to the hospital in critical condition, where doctors later declared him dead.
The incident sparked outrage among local traders, who closed their shops on Saturday in protest. Expressing their anger, the traders staged a sit-in demonstration. The president of the local market association Ram Lal Saini said that all shops remained shut and we have demanded arrest of the accused.
Congress leader Mahendra Singh Kheri condemned police's response to the protest and alleged that police used force to disperse the demonstrators. Speaking about the case, DCP (West) Amit Kumar said that while the initial FIR was registered as an accident, further investigation and examination of CCTV footage have led the police to consider the incident as a probable instance of culpable homicide.
“We have handed over the case to the Murlipura police station from Jhotwara police station. Initially, it was also being probed by accident police station. But with new information cropping up, we are investigating the incident from all angles,” Kumar told TOI.
He said that the ongoing investigation aims to determine the exact circumstances and potential criminal liability involved in the incident.
One police official said that two youths in a car reached the pan shop where they asked for water. They saw a matki (water pot) on the shop’s counter, which was empty, and this triggered a heated argument.
“It seems that the two youths were cornered by the locals who sided with the pan shop owner. The two youths tried to flee the scene and hit the victim in the process,” he said.
Jhotwara (SHO) Rajendra Singh stated that on Friday night local residents had assaulted one of the individuals accompanying the driver. The injured person was subsequently transported to the hospital by ambulance.