Constable beaten up, ‘abducted’ from Kashmere Gate

A Delhi Police constable was allegedly ‘abducted’ in a private bus by four-five men from near Kashmere Gate bus terminal, assaulted, and robbed of his service pistol, mobile and wallet on Wednesday night, senior police officers said. The constable was in his police uniform when the alleged incident took place.

The alleged abductors tied the constable’s limbs and stuffed a piece of cloth in his mouth so that he could not scream for help. They threw the constable at the roadside at an isolated place in Makkhanpur near Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning, after assaulting, robbing, and keeping him confined in the moving bus for nearly six hours, during which the vehicle travelled 250km, officials said on Friday.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Anto Alphose said that the injured constable, identified by his first name Sachin, then sought help from some passersby and reached the local police station in Uttar Pradesh, which in turn informed the Kashmere Gate police station. A team from Kashmere Gate police station then was dispatched to Uttar Pradesh to bring back the injured constable.

“A case under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code was registered and several teams were formed to identify and nab the suspects. A father-son duo, identified as Rajiv Chaurasis alias Munna and his son Ankit Chaurasis aka Chhotu, were arrested from Machhand village in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind on Friday for their involvement in the incident. The bus was seized from outside their home. At least four-five suspects are still absconding. A police team, along with constable Sachin, is conducting raids to nab them,” said DCP Alphonse.

The DCP said that constable Sachin was on night bike patrolling duty in Mori Gate area on Wednesday. Around 11pm, he spotted a private bus near the Kashmere Gate bus terminal that was overcrowded, with some women passengers were screaming for help. He stopped the bus for checking and two men, who identified themselves as the bus operators, came out of the vehicle.

“When the constable asked them the reason for the commotion, the duo first argued with him. They then boarded the bus and asked the driver to drive. The constable became suspicious and made the driver stop. He then went inside the vehicle to inquire. But five-six people attacked and overpowered him, locked him inside and began assaulting him, even as the bus started moving,” a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.

On the way, the officer said, the operators assaulted Sachin, robbed him of his service pistol, mobile phone and wallet. They then threw him out of the bus in Makkhanpur. The constable had told his superiors that there were many passengers on board the bus and some of them even tried to intervene but to no avail .

One of miscreants, now identified as Ankit Chaurasia, was constantly talking to someone over the phone in a local dialect that made the constable believe that he was from Bhind-Morena in MP. Ankit was taking instructions from the person about how to deal with the constable and the situation.

“The person on the other end of the phone turned out to be Ankit’s father Rajiv Chaurasia. We have arrested him as well. The constable’s stolen service pistol has also been recovered. Efforts are on to nab other suspects,” added the officer.