Samir Thapar, vice-president and managing director of JCT Limited, plans to complain about the “highhandedness” of the Delhi police to the Lieutenant-Governor and seek a fair investigation into his “illegal” detention and arrest over the weekend.
While Mr. Thapar had threatened to sue the police for his “illegal” detention and arrest, Delhi Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal has ordered an independent inquiry into the incident by the Crime Branch. “Some Crime Branch officers had come to meet me today. After the inquiry, I will demand action against those who illegally detained me for 12-long hours at the Chanakyapuri police station without any reason,” said a furious Mr. Thapar on Wednesday.
Recalling the nightmare, Mr. Thapar said he was in the LAP lounge bar in the early hours of Saturday when a posse of policemen entered the bar, switched on the lights stopping all activities and started searching for some people, who later turned out to be Sahil Dhingra and Manu Sharma. Around 3 a.m., Mr. Thapar came out and sat in his Ferrari parked on the porch. “Sahil’s vehicle was parked on the left side and some policemen were standing there. I was about to leave when they intercepted me. I was stopped perhaps because of the loud sound of my Ferrari’s engine, as apparently Mr. Dadwal’s son Pranay had told the policemen that those with whom he had a quarrel were in such a vehicle.”
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Mr. Thapar was then picked up along with Sahil Dhingra and his bodyguards, bundled into a vehicle and taken to the police station.
Coming down heavily on the police, Mr. Thapar accused the Police Commissioner’s son of exercising his father’s power.
“It was only because of the Police Commissioner’s son that about 50 policemen including three Assistant Commissioners of Police reached the spot,” alleged Mr. Thapar, adding that the police, otherwise, seldom reacted to any other distress call so swiftly.
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Detention
“Minutes after I was taken to the police station, they realised that I was not with Sahil and that I had gone to the bar independently. I kept asking them throughout night why I had been kept under detention, but did not get any answers. They later took Sahil for medical examination, after which I was also taken for a check-up, produced in a court and then released around 2 p.m.,” said Mr. Thapar.
The police have booked the businessmen for disturbing public peace under sections 107 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Manu Sharma had left the lounge bar minutes before the arrival of the police.