Ghaziabad: Bhojpur toll plaza staff attacked; FIR lodged

Ghaziabad toll staff were assaulted by unidentified passengers in two cars after one vehicle broke the barrier to avoid paying toll on the Delhi Meerut Expressway.

Ghaziabad: A group of unidentified passengers in two cars allegedly thrashed staff of the toll plaza at Bhojpur late Monday night to go past the barriers without paying toll on the Meerut-Ghaziabad stretch of the Delhi Meerut Expressway.

Police said they have registered a first information report (FIR) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for voluntarily causing hurt, causing loss and damage, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and criminal intimidation at Bhojpur police station. (HT Photos)

In his police complaint, toll in-charge Ankit Kumar stated that a car bearing Delhi registration number arrived at the toll around 10.30pm on Monday and broke the boom barrier to go past without paying the toll.

“He (the driver of the Delhi registered car) was stopped at some distance by the toll staff. In between, he called up his known people who arrived in another car with a registration number of Ghaziabad. They beat up toll staff and also insulted them verbally, besides issuing them threats. After some time, the two vehicles were drawn out of the toll, and they fled,” the complaint read.

The toll staff have shared registration numbers of both the cars with police for investigation, officers said.

Police said they have registered a first information report (FIR) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for voluntarily causing hurt, causing loss and damage, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and criminal intimidation at Bhojpur police station.

“The first car tried to go past the toll without paying up, leading to objections from staff. Later, the car driver also called up his known persons, and they attacked the toll staff. We have videos of the incident, and these will be part of the investigation. Our teams are trying to trace the suspects on the basis of the registration number of cars,” said assistant commissioner of police (Modinagar Circle) Gyan Prakash Rai.

Several video clips of the toll incident also surfaced online in which unidentified people were seen slapping and hitting the toll staff. Some women were also seen along with them.

HT could not independently verify the videos’ authenticity.