Car towed away in Noida with two inside, case filed

Biswajeet Majumdar, the owner of the car, agreed that he willingly sat in the car while it was being towed away

A parking contractor in Noida is in the dock for towing away a car while two elderly people were sitting in the vehicle, Noida authority officials and police officers said.

A screengrab shows the car being towed while two people were seated inside. (HT)

However, the parking contractor has claimed that his staff was towing away a car that was parked in a no parking zone when two people — a man and a woman — came and insisted on sitting in their car while it was being towed away.

Biswajeet Majumdar, the owner of the car, agreed that he willingly sat in the car while it was being towed away, but alleged that the contractor refused to release his car, and claimed that the “no parking” sign was hidden by a tree.

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon, but came to light on Wednesday after a video emerged on social media, in which a tow truck is towing away a red Skoda Fabia, even as two people can be seen sitting inside the car.

The Noida authority has now served a show cause notice to Praveen Gupta, the contractor, asking why his services should not be terminated, and slapped a ₹50,000 fine on the contractor.

Noida authority CEO Lokesh M said has he ordered an investigation. “The staff of the contractor deliberately towed away a car in which some people were seated,” the authority said in a statement.

The authority also filed a complaint at the Sector 49 police station against Gupta, along with Anurag Kumar and Vinit Kaushik, who were operating the tow truck. Deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Anil Kumar Yadav said, “We have seized the tow truck.”

Anuj Kumar, station house officer of the Sector 49 police station, said, “Taking cognizance of the video, we have registered a case under Section 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code against the contractor and the driver of the towing vehicle.”

However, Gupta, the contractor, claimed that his staff was towing away the vehicles from the no-parking zone when two people came and insisted that they be allowed to sit in their car while it was being towed away. “The two employees were sacked following this incident,” he said.

Meanwhile, Majumdar said he was travelling with his sister-in-law — a heart patient — and said that the “no parking” sign was hidden by trees. “I had parked for only about five minutes... When we returned, the tow truck had lifted our car. We requested them to release the car but they refused. We then got into the car,” he said.