Restaurant delivers food late; Delhi cop handcuffs manager, thrashes him

The ASI has been booked for wrongful restraint, assault, criminal intimidation and snatching cash from the manager.

Delhi Police on Monday registered a first information report (FIR) against an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police for allegedly handcuffing and assaulting the manager of a restaurant at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station premises over a delay in delivering food and not answering his phone calls four days ago.

An FIR was registered against an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police for allegedly handcuffing and assaulting the manager of a restaurant. (HT File)

The ASI has been booked for wrongful restraint, assault, criminal intimidation and snatching cash from the manager.

The FIR was registered under different sections of the Indian Penal Code at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway police station, where the ASI was posted and where the alleged assault took place on Thursday.

The ASI was suspended and sent to district lines soon after senior police officers took note of a video— which the manager shot on a mobile phone, narrating the entire torture and showing his injuries—was circulated on social media. They examined footage of CCTV cameras installed at the police station and found that the assault was captured on one of them, the police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (railways) Harendra Kumar Singh said the FIR against the police officer was registered after the complainant’s allegations were found to be genuine during an internal enquiry.

“To ensure a fair and proper probe, an inspector of a different police station has been appointed as the investigating officer. By registering this case, we want to convey to other police personnel that similar departmental and legal action would be initiated if anybody is found involved in similar unlawful acts,” the DCP said.

In the two-minute, 41-second video, the manager said the station house officer ordered food around 8.30 pm on Thursday. The manager said he was busy and could not answer a few calls the ASI had made on his cellphone.

A few minutes later, a police station staff came to the restaurant and asked the manager to go to the police station.

“When I reached, the ASI began assaulting me. He handcuffed me in a room and started slapping, punching me. The ASI kicked me in my private parts. I was also assaulted with a stick,” the manager said in the video.

The manager alleged the ASI snatched R5,500 from his pocket and threatened to thrash him again if he ignored his calls in the future. The manager was held in the police station for almost an hour before being allowed to leave.