How broken Mercedes parts led police to Dehradun hit-and-run suspect

Dehradun Police tracked down the luxury SUV involved in a fatal hit-and-run using camera footage and broken car parts, eventually arresting the 22-year-old suspect, Vansh Katyal, who had fled to Delhi after the crash, NDTV reported. The accident, which took place on the night of March 12, left four labourers dead and two others injured.

Police teams combed through footage from automated number recognition cameras and identified the car as a Chandigarh-registered Mercedes-Benz. According to the NDTV report quoting Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Singh, broken car parts found at the scene confirmed the vehicle model, narrowing their search to nine similar Mercedes cars that had passed through Rajpur in recent days.

Investigators visited a local Mercedes showroom and service center, which confirmed that the Mercedes-Benz with license plate number GLS 400 had been serviced in November. The vehicle was later discovered abandoned in a vacant lot, showing damage to its front end.

Further inquiries with the Chandigarh transport authorities led the police to the car's owner, Jatin Verma, who is Katyal’s brother-in-law. The vehicle was originally purchased in 2023 and sold to a second-hand dealer within six months before Verma bought it in July.