NEW DELHI: A speeding Audi car injured over five people sleeping on the pavement in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Vihar early this week. Among the injured is an eight-year-old girl, who, along with another victim, is in critical condition.

Police arrested the driver, a property dealer who was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the accident.The victims, all originally from Rajasthan, have been identified as Ladhi (40), Bimla (8), Sabami alias Chirama (45), Narayani (35), and Ramchandra (45). They were sleeping outside the Shiva Camp area near the Munirka flyover, where they work as daily-wage labourers.

According to police, around 1.30am on Wednesday, 40year-old Utsav Shekhar from Dwarka lost control of his vehicle.

The car veered off the road, ran over the family and crashed into a parked truck a short distance ahead.The victims were fast asleep and had no time to react. Locals rushed to the spot after hearing cries for help and alerted authorities. Police and emergency services transported all five victims to a nearby hospital, where they are undergoing treatment.The accused was caught shortly after the incident. A police patrolling vehicle detained the driver after his Audi rear-ended a stationary truck.

Upon verifying the car’s licence plate, police confirmed that the same vehicle was involved in the previous incident. The driver has been booked for rash and negligent driving causing injury.Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel confirmed that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and was travelling from Noida to his home in Dwarka. “The victims do petty jobs to earn a living,” he said. Apart from the child, the other four victims are two couples.Last year, a speeding canter truck spun out of control and crushed five people who were sleeping on a central verge in northeast Delhi’s Shastri Park. In 2022, two children were killed and eight people injured after a high-end car, driven by a businessman allegedly at high speed, hit another car, which flipped and landed on homeless people sleeping under the Lodhi Road flyover.