The family of the Delhi car-drag victim on Thursday alleged “victim shaming” by a witness who has claimed the dead woman had been drinking heavily. They suggested it was part of a police ploy to deflect attention from a BJP official’s arrest in the case.

The controversy came on a day the police named two more suspects, accusing them of “evidence tampering”, and said they were in hiding but would be arrested. Five young men including a ward-level BJP official had earlier been arrested hours after their car allegedly hit a 20-year-old scooterist around 2.45am on Sunday and drove around Delhi’s streets for over an hour with her body stuck to the undercarriage.

The victim’s family accused Nidhi, who was riding pillion on the scooter, of “character assassination” of the dead woman.

Nidhi, who suffered minor injuries and fled the scene, had lain low for 48 hours before investigators traced her on Tuesday. She says she was too scared to contact the police. Since then, a masked woman identifying herself as Nidhi has told the media that the victim had drunk heavily at a New Year party and ignored her pleas not to take the driver’s seat.

“Some TV channels have been running a slander campaign against the victim with the help of her friend. It seems the police are leaking CCTV footage of the hotel where the victim had gone to celebrate New Year. What’s wrong with that (celebrating in a hotel)?” a relative of the victim told The Telegraph, asking not to be named.

“Why have the police so far not released any footage showing what the accused were doing that night? It’s apparent that this victim-shaming is being done with the support of the police. Is it because one of the accused is a BJP functionary?”

He added: “I find the friend’s role very suspicious as she did not raise the alarm and quietly went home. She emerged only after being traced by the police. Why did she not inform the police and the family? Some TV channels have been constantly showing her interview and doing character assassination on the victim.”

The victim’s mother told reporters her daughter had never drunk alcohol in her life and accused the friend of lying.

“I have never seen or heard of her. She never visited our home. She is lying. My daughter never drank alcohol,” she said.

Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal has demanded an inquiry into claims that the dead woman had been drinking and cautioned against victim shaming.

Claims that the victim of a road collision was drunk can mitigate the responsibility of the accused for the crash itself, though not necessarily for dragging her body.

The accused say they never realised the body was stuck to the car. Officers said Nidhi had told the police that the car was driving in a zigzag way and was responsible for the collision.

“This victim shaming is shocking. What is the point of this slander campaign that she was drinking and partying at a hotel on New Year? Even if true, does it mean she deserves to be dragged under a car?” a former Delhi police joint commissioner said.

More suspects

Special commissioner (law and order) Sagar Preet Hooda said: “A probe has revealed the involvement of two more suspects — Ashutosh, owner of the car, and Ankush, brother of one of the arrested men. They are absconding and will be arrested soon.” The police have arrested five people – Manoj Mittal, 27, a BJP functionary, Deepak Khanna, 26, Krishan, 27, Amit Khanna, 25, and Mithun, 26.

Hooda said the accused had claimed Deepak was driving the grey Maruti Baleno but CCTV footage had revealed that the driver was Amit. Ankush, who was not in the car, is Amit’s brother.

Hooda said Ankush had asked the accused to lie since Amit did not have a driving licence. Ashutosh had lent the car to the accused. “We have found he tried to tamper with the evidence,” Hooda said without elaborating.

He said all the accused had lied: “They were aware that the victim’s body was being dragged along.”

Around 4.33am, quite some time after the body had come unstuck from the car, the five accused left the Baleno at a point near Ashutosh’s home and fled in an auto-rickshaw, the police said citing CCTV footage.

The police had initially slapped only the charges of rash driving and causing death by negligence, inviting allegations of shielding the accused because one of them is a BJP official.

After an uproar, they added the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable by up to a life term.

Asked about the allegations of delayed police response to an eyewitness’s calls about a car dragging a body, Hooda said: “An internal inquiry is on to find out if this was human error or a problem with the process. Strict action will be taken after the inquiry report.”

According to sources, the preliminary post-mortem report says the victim had at least 40 external injuries, including those to the head, spine and lower limbs. Her ribs were exposed from her back, the base of her skull was fractured and some “brain matter was missing”.

Police sources have denied allegations by the victim’s family that she had been raped and the “accident” staged, saying a preliminary medical examination, CCTV footage and the friend’s account did not indicate sexual assault. Officially, the police have said they are waiting for the post-mortem report.