A BSES engineer was killed and four of his colleagues injured when their car hit a tree on Monday.
Their car was allegedly being chased by residents of a south Delhi village, where they had been gone to check “large-scale power-theft”, at the time of the incident. Deceased Abhimanyu Singh was leading the team.
Power theft
According to the police, the alleged incident was reported around 12.30 p.m. when the enforcement team had gone to Jhuljhuli village in Jaffarpur Kalan for inspection. The BSES alleged that the team, comprising 15 members and assisted by the police, was threatened before the villagers charged towards it.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (south-west) Surender Kumar said a police team of 26 personnel from the local police station had accompanied the engineers and controlled the crowd that had gathered to protest against the raid.
An official, who was part of the raid and provided an eyewitness account, said while resistance was a common occurrence during raids against power theft in these areas, the protesters were more aggressive this time.
“Youths on bikes surrounded us and threatened to thrash us if we did not leave,” said the official, who was present in one of the cars. He said the presence of policemen failed to deter the youths, some of whom even carried hockey sticks and rods.
Police present
As the team was inspecting and video-graphing detected instances of power thefts, the youth insisted that they delete the footage. To diffuse tension, the police also asked the team to stop filming and return later.
Following this, Mr. Singh and his colleagues Bhim Singh (27) Yogender (25) and Saurakh (24) returned to their car. They started driving away, when the youth allegedly blocked their way and asked them to hand over the camera.
When they refused, the youth threatened to damage the car. “The police team present at the spot managed to drive them away, but some of them followed us on bikes,” said the official.
One of the bikers pulled up beside their car and threatened to thrash the driver if he did not stop, due to which driver Wasim panicked and took a left turn.
“He lost control of the vehicle. The car overturned and hit a tree,” added the official.
Mr. Singh was killed on the spot while others, including Wasim, sustained critical injuries. The police team at the spot rushed the four men to a hospital. The accused fled following the accident.
“We have registered a case of causing death due to negligence and are probing the sequence of events as mentioned by the officials. Further action will be taken accordingly,” said Mr. Kumar.
