In a suspected attempt-to-robbery case, a bike-borne assailants opened fire at a TV news channel crew on the way to an assignment at the Barapullah flyover in South Delhi on Sunday morning.
Three Delhi policemen have been suspended for ignoring the complaint of victims, said an officer.
Brandished pistol
Siddharth Purohit, who works with a TV news channel, in his compliant alleged that on Sunday around 1.30 a.m. when he was passing through the Barapullah flyover in his office cab with camera person and cab driver, two persons on a bike followed their car. The pillion rider brandished pistol and signalled to stop them. To avert the situation, the cab driver tried to drive away. The pillion rider opened fire on the car and shot three rounds, aiming at the driver and passengers, but fortunately they survived.
“Despite being followed by the attackers, the cab driver continued driving the vehicle in order to spot police PCR vans for help. In the meantime, he dialled 100 number for police assistance but he got the call back from the PCR van after 30 minutes,” said Mr. Purohit in his complaint.
Mr. Purohit said they spotted policemen at a barricade installed on a road outside the INA metro station. They stopped the cab and reported the incident to the police personnel. Instead of helping them, the policemen removed the barricades and left the spot.
“I had informed the police control room about the incident at 1.30 a.m. but the PCR reached to me at 3:05 a.m. I informed my colleagues and office about the incident and also reported the insensitive attitude of policemen at barricade duty to senior police officers,” said Mr. Purohit.
Devesh Srivastava, Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern range), said that suspecting it was a robbery attempt, they had registered an FIR under IPC Sections 393 (attempt to commit robbery), 307 (attempt to murder) and under the Arms Act at the Lodhi Colony police station.
“Several teams are working to identify the attackers. The case has been transferred to the crime branch...,” said Mr. Srivastava. Three police personnel including an Assistant Sub-Inspector on duty at barricade outside the INA metro station have been suspended for ignoring the compliant of the victim,” said Mr. Srivastava. He also said his team had prepared a sketch of a suspect. “The Delhi police will not tolerate insensitive behaviour of policemen. We are working on deployment of PCR vans and patrolling of police motorcycles to provide maximum security cover to motorists on DND and Barapullah,” said Mr. Srivastava.
