Gurugram: 2 ragpickers assaulted over stealing scrap, one dies

Investigators said the duo spotted metal scraps lying on a plot and started collecting them. Police said they picked up a heavy iron rod from the plot and walked to the road to put it in their pushcart.The duo returned to the plot to pick up second metal rod when someone spotted them and raised the alarm

Two persons have been arrested on charges of taking hostage two ragpickers and mercilessly beating them, resulting in the death of one of them, after they were allegedly caught stealing scrap metal from a private plot in Ghata village in Sector 56 on Wednesday, police said.

According to police, the incident took place around midnight when the ragpickers were walking on the main road near the village with an intent to collect metal scraps. (Representational Image)

According to police, the incident took place around midnight when ragpickers Isruddin Sheikh (30) and Rafiqul Sheikh (29) were walking on the main road near the village with an intent to collect metal scraps.

Investigators said the duo spotted metal scraps lying on a plot and started collecting them. Police said they picked up a heavy iron rod from the plot and walked to the road to put it in their pushcart.The duo returned to the plot to pick up second metal rod when someone spotted them and raised the alarm.

Investigators said Isruddin and Rafiqul hid amid tractors and trolleys parked on the plot to save themselves and emerged after over an hour.

Police said on spotting no one, the duo slowly started moving towards the main road with the iron rod when two men started chasing them.

After almost half an hour of assault, Isruddin and Rafiqul fell to the ground following which the two suspects tied their hands with a rope and threw them in their cart.

A senior police officer said the suspects took the ragpickers to a room built on the plot and left after locking them inside.

“Isruddin told us that both of them soon fell unconscious from the brutal assault and continuous bleeding. Around 8am on Wednesday, Isruddin regained his senses to find Rafiqul cold and not breathing. He started screaming and the two suspects came running only to find one of the ragpickers dead,” he said.

The officer said the suspects untied Isruddin and brought him out into the open. He said news soon spread and someone alerted the police.

On Isruddin’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the two suspects under sections 34 (common intention), 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 56 police station on Wednesday evening, said police.

Abhilaksh Joshi, assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), said,”Two villagers, Mannu (25) and Ankit (27), were on guard when the duo tried to steal the metal. Instead of calling the police, they took matters into their hands and brutally assaulted them.” He said both ragpickers hailed from Murshidabad, West Bengal.

“Mannu and Abhishek have been arrested. They don’t have any criminal antecedents,” he said, adding that on the complaint of one of the villagers, a theft case was also registered against Isruddin and Rafiqul.