In a nightmarish episode on DND expressway on Saturday night, a Noida resident and her driver were targeted by bikers who punctured their vehicle tyre and attempted to force them out of the car in an alleged robbery attempt. The victims have also alleged a delayed response from the police and private guards patrolling the flyway.
Gita Ahluwalia had come to Delhi to visit a friend and was on her way home when five men on two motorcycles started following them. According to Ms. Ahluwalia, around 8 p.m, they had just taken the road towards DND after passing the Ashram Flyover when the driver noticed five men on two bikes pretending to suffer a breakdown in the middle of the road. One of them allegedly went to the back of the car and the driver saw him leaning down but didn’t realise that the tyre had been slashed.
Doors locked
“After driving around half a kilometre, we realised that the tyre had punctured and that the two motorcycles were following us. They would slow down, pick up speed, or stop depending on what we were doing. We were scared and convinced we were being followed. I insisted that we keep driving despite the flat tire for it was risky to be around them. But, eventually the rim started coming in contact with the road and we had no choice but to stop,” she said.
As the two occupants locked themselves in the car, Ms. Ahluwalia instructed the driver not to open the doors fearing the men might do some harm.
“Initially the motorcycles were parked around 25 metres behind us and were obviously waiting for someone to open the car. After 15 minutes or so they realised we weren’t coming out, they came towards the car and started banging loudly on the windows from both sides and hurled abuses at the driver,” said Ms. Ahluwalia.
Delayed response
By then, however, she had made a call to her husband and the police. The police allegedly took longer than her husband, who drove in from Noida. According to her husband, Vivek, two sets of policemen, both PCR staff from Delhi and Noida (since the vehicle was close to the Yamuna Bridge) arrived at the spot but the first one among them took 40 minutes.
“By the time I reached from my home it was close to 9 p.m. and just then the police van arrived, took my wife's details and left. Two Noida cops on their bike had also arrived now as we had called them while trying to reach the abandoned car. They waited while we changed the tyre but, of course, were of little other help and did not help us in getting a complaint registered. We weren’t sure about the jurisdiction either,” wrote Mr. Ahluwalia in a Facebook post.
The Hindu spoke to both SP (City-Noida) and DCP (South-East) Delhi Police and both said that they would look into the matter. They added that the victim should file a written complaint, which would be taken up after the jurisdiction is finalised.
