Five arrested for assaulting meat shop owner in Gurugram

The complaint stated preliminary investigation found that the suspects were forcibly closing the meat shops in the area every Tuesday

Five people were arrested from Bhondsi on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a meat and biryani shop owner when he refused to give them food items for free at Vatika Chowk on Saturday night, police said. Officers added that the suspects would also force meat shop owners in the area to remain shut every Tuesday and assaulting those who disobeyed.

Police said the matter came to light when a video of the assault surfaced on social media websites. (Representational image)

Police said the matter came to light when a video of the assault on the shop owner, Mohammad Saud (32), whose shop is also at Vatika Chowk, surfaced on social media websites. The suspects themselves circulated the videos which later came to the notice of senior officials of Gurugram Police via Twitter.

Cognisance was accordingly taken, and orders were issued to crack down against the suspects, who were identified as Naveen, Monu alias Chota, Priyanshu, Anil Kumar and Rohit Yadav — all residents of Bhondsi.

On complaint of a constable Parveen Kumar, an FIR was registered against the suspects under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 153A (offence committed in place of worship), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 387 (putting person in fear of death or grievous hurt in order to commit extortion), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of ₹ ₹50 or above) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Badshahpur police station on Tuesday night, said police.

“The suspects hurled communal slurs at Saud while assaulting him. They even demanded extortion money every month. Witnesses said that Saud closed his shop and immediately left the city after the attack in which his entire shop was ransacked. Saud’s brother said that nobody approached police as the suspects had threatened to shut the shop permanently if they approached authorities,” the complaint said.

Police said that the suspects had criminal cases against them including that of attacking a police team in October last year.

“Monu has five criminal cases against him including possessing illegal arms, illegal liquor trade and Naveen has four cases of assault against him,” said Subhash Boken, public relations officer of Gurugram Police, adding that further investigation was underway.