A 14-wheel truck was moving ahead of the auto-rickshaw and its taillights were not on. Naresh Kumar could not see the protruding rods and rammed into them, they said.
The rods pierced through the auto-rickshaw and his body, killing him on the spot, the police said.
The accident occurred on the Nizamuddin Bridge around 4:30 am. He was going towards Noida with a couple of passengers, who also suffered minor injuries, they said.
A QRT van was hit by a car with a Uttarkhand number plate, the police said.
The accident occurred when it was taking two persons, who were detained for moving suspiciously near the Japanese Embassy, to the Chanakyapuri Police Station, they said.
The car's driver Ankush Gupta has been arrested and it is being probed whether he knew the detained men.