Noida: Cop assaulted during anti-encroachment drive

The victim, head constable Anwar Abbas Zaidi who is with the Dial 112 force, was taken to a hospital where he is out of danger, police added.

A policeman was stabbed during an anti-encroachment drive in Sector 125 on Tuesday, said police.

According to police, the incident happened in the afternoon near Amity University when the Noida Authority moved in to remove encroachments there. (HT Archives. Representative image)

The victim, head constable Anwar Abbas Zaidi who is with the Dial 112 force, was taken to a hospital where he is out of danger, police added.

According to police, the incident happened in the afternoon near Amity University when the Noida Authority moved in to remove encroachments there. When people in the area argued and manhandled the authority officials, the police was called in, they said.

“Police personnel were sent to deal with the situation. When the head constable tried to intervene and sort the matter out, one man assaulted him with a knife and then fled the area,” said deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1) Rajesh S. “We have identified at least two involved in the incident and efforts are on to nab them. There are no CCTV cameras at the spot but three teams are working on tracing them. We will register a case against them for assault and take necessary action.”

A Noida Authority official said that it was a routine drive to remove vendors who had set up shop on public land on the roadside.

“The officials asked them to move to the authorised vending zones to conduct their business. When they misbehaved with the staff, the police were called in,” said the official.

In a separate incident, police said that a video on social media of a biryani seller’s vend allegedly being overturned by a policeman in Surajpur was fake.

“It was found that the seller himself had overturned the stall to tarnish the image of the police who had asked them move from public spots that caused congestion. We also have CCTV footage that showed this. The vendor and his brother themselves did this and shared the video on social media. We will take necessary action against them,” said a senior police officer.