Gzb police stepped in to save people and houses from the mob at least three times
Rioters in Delhi’s north-east areas who had gone on a rampage since Sunday night, kept the police in neighbouring Ghaziabad also on their toes on at least three occasions.
The Ghaziabad police said they had to enter the jurisdiction of Delhi for a brief while in order to save precious lives in three different incidents on Monday and Tuesday.
Officers of the Ghaziabad police said they had saved lives of an auto driver who was about to be set afire in his auto by a mob at Khajuri Pushta border area late Monday. Hours later, the Ghaziabad police stepped in again and prevented a man from getting lynched by another mob of about 80-90 persons. The police chased them from the spot in Khajuri Pushta.
“When we heard the news of clashes in Delhi on Monday evening, we immediately sent additional forces to Loni which shares a border with north-east Delhi. However, the borders there are not clearly demarcated and it becomes difficult to figure out jurisdictions. Late Monday,a mob of about 100 had caught hold of an auto driver and was trying to set him and his vehicle on fire. Since all this was happening in front of our eyes, we decided to chase the mob away,” Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, superintendent of police (rural), said.
Again, between midnight and 1am, several people arrived to seek help from the Ghaziabad police. But they had already closed the borders with Delhi by then.
“A group of people came to us and told us that one of their friends was taken away by a mob of about 100 and that he could be lynched. We immediately went into Khajuri Pushta and chased away the mob. The injured man was rushed to a hospital in a car of his friends,” Jadaun said.
The next day, the Ghaziabad police again came to the rescue when faced with a mob of about 200 people armed with petrol bombs. sticks, rods and other weapons trying to set afire about 8-10 houses in Lal Bagh, under the jurisdiction of Karawal Nagar police station area.
“The rioters had taken cover under tin sheets and were heading towards the houses in order to set them afire. Another group of residents was pelting stones on them in order to drive them away. Seeing how the lives of women and children were at risk, we decided to chase the mob for about 100 meres. They fled to another spot. They tried three times to reach the houses but we did not let them,” Jadaun said.
The mob turned their fury towards the Ghaziabad police and stated pelting stones at the personnel. They later moved away after the police told them on a public address system that they have been identified and the videos and pictures will be handed over to the Delhi Police.
The Ghaziabad police said they also attended to emergency calls from Delhi. According to officers, about 300 calls were received on Monday night while another 346 were received on Tuesday, besides 306 on Wednesday.
“Normally, we received about 150 calls a day but the frequency of calls increased between Monday night and Wednesday. The calls peaked between 10pm and 2am each day. These included calls from Delhi which we passed on to the Delhi control room. The callers mostly complained of their fear and panic,” Jadaun said.
The police Wednesday morning also found a burnt bike at the Delhi-Loni border and said no rioter was spotted nearby. The bike belonged to a Delhi resident.
The Ghaziabad police and administration officials have, so far, sealed three borders of Loni with Delhi and are allowing only essential supplies in and out after thorough checks.
“The borders will remain sealed till we are assured that the situation is peaceful in Delhi. In our areas, we are holding peace committee meetings and round-the-clock checks are ongoing. About seven persons suspected of rumour mongering were also questioned. We have also identified about 15 persons and closely monitoring their social media activities,” Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, said.