A city band’s lead singer was injured after a quarrel broke out between members of the band and employees of Turquoise Cottage, a café in south Delhi’s Green Park, on Friday night. The police have registered three First Information Reports in the case against both parties.
Around 11:30 p.m., the band’s lead singer, Sahil Sharma, and others were wrapping up their gig at the café. His friend and the band’s sound engineer, Mayank Tiwari, went to the bar counter asking for the cheque. “I went towards the counter when I saw bartender Harpal Singh and Mayank get into a scuffle. Mr. Tiwari said he had ordered four beers while the bartender claimed he had ordered six,” said Mr. Sharma. He added that the situation escalated and the argument soon turned into a fistfight.
Mr. Sharma said he intervened and asked Mr. Singh to talk politely and charge them for six beers if he wanted to but allow them to leave the venue. “But Mr. Singh said tu bahar aa, tujhe dekhta hun [step outside and we’ll see],” alleged Mr. Sharma.
Fight inside PCR van
Mr. Sharma said he pushed Mr. Singh away in retaliation. This eventually lead to both parties roughing up each other. “Right outside the pub, a few bouncers pushed us. One of them grabbed my throat and I hit him. They dragged me down four flights of stairs and I got severely injured in the head,” he alleged.
He also requested the café manager to intervene and ask his employees to let the matter go but the manager allegedly refused to budge. “So many people were there inside the café. Many of them tried to stop the bartenders from hitting us but the manager chose to stand by and watch,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the police was called to the spot and they took all involved to the Safdarjung police station. Inside the PCR van, Mr. Sharma said he and Mr. Singh got into a fight again because Mr. Singh allegedly told him: “ Police station chal, tujhe wahan dekhta hun ”.
Cop’s uniform torn
Based on Mr. Sharma’s complaint, the police have registered an FIR under Sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) against Mr. Singh and others. Two FIRs have been registered against Mr. Sharma based on Mr. Singh’s complaint and a police officer who had come to the spot.
“Mr. Sharma has been booked under the same sections as Mr. Singh and also under Sections 186, 332, 353 based on Head Constable Sunil Kumar’s complaint as he had allegedly abused him and torn his uniform,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chinmoy Biswal. The café manager remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts.
