TWISTED ENCOUNTERS

Chapter 7 : Suspicious encounters

Aastha's POV

"There has been a hit and run case at the traffic signal of Sector 42." the input team called and informed the Editor.

"Aastha you are going to cover the story." Mr. Kishore Patil, the Editor for city news told me to go right away.

Team Sub-Editor, Mr. Rajendra Rao said he would come too, since it will be my first reporting after joining SBN.

A hit and run case. Why this one only?

I couldn't say no, because it was my first assignment here. I had to take it in an all professional way. It was my duty. I picked up my bag and ran towards the gate. Tanmay was already waiting outside for us.

We reached the spot within a few minutes. A huge crowd had already gathered, with police trying to handle the situation in a more or less stringent way. Several other reporters were already there. We interviewed the police in charge and some locals as soon as we reached. Sub-Editor asked me to give an initial reporting with the available information.

"And we are rolling in three. 1, 2 ..." and Tanmay gave me a signal to begin.

"Right now we are at Sector 42 where the accident has taken place. A 59 year old woman identified as Mrs. Shradha Iyer was hit by a speeding car at around 5 PM. On lookers told us that a white Maruti Suzuki S-Cross did not slow down at the traffic point while the signal was still red. Another important thing is the traffic police who was on duty, was not on the spot at the moment the accident took place. We spoke with the police officials and they are looking into the CCTV footage to identify the car plate number and get hold of the culprit. The victim has secured major injuries and has been currently taken to City Hospital. We are not yet confirmed whether it is a drunk and driving case. Also the irresponsibility of the traffic policeman on duty cannot be overlooked. The public is furious at the moment and demand police to catch the culprits as soon as possible. This is Aastha Sharma, from Sector 42, for SBN."

"And we are out." Tanmay signaled.

We spoke again with some shop keepers who witnessed the accident first hand.

"Can you tell us in detail what did you see?" I interviewed one of the shop keepers.

"Ma'am I was talking to a customer when we heard a loud screeching sound of brakes and simultaneously a lady screamed out of nowhere. We immediately rushed outside to see. A lady was lying on the road. At first we thought she is dead, but later on the ambulance took her and we came to know she was alive and was severely injured."

"Did you see how many people were sitting in the car?"

"I saw two people for sure. One was the driver and another one was sitting in the co-driver's seat. But the windows for the backseat were pulled up so I couldn't see anything."

I thanked him and told him he should also let the police know every detail that he witnessed.

After interviewing some more people, SER as I called Sub-Editor Rao in-short, came and said, "You and Tanmay go to the hospital, and see if you can find something more about the victim. A family member or someone would be better if interviewed. I will meet and talk to the police again." We packed our stuffs and left SER there.

The hospital was at a 30 minutes drive from the accident spot. Tanmay told me he knows a shortcut and we could avoid getting stuck in the busy evening traffic. Since he was a local, and I wanted to reach the hospital early, I agreed.

After crossing a few bye-lanes, the driver took a right turn and we reached crossings were the road was closed for repair, and a sign for diversion was given.