Goons attack staff at Dasna toll plaza, one arrested

Ghaziabad: A group of at least 10 persons on Sunday night allegedly thrashed the employees at Dasna toll plaza on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway after an argument over the payment of toll

Ghaziabad: A group of at least 10 persons on Sunday night allegedly thrashed the employees at Dasna toll plaza on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway after an argument over the payment of toll. The assailants also vandalised the toll plaza, police said, adding that they have arrested one of the suspects.

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Police said the entire incident was captured in a CCTV camera installed inside one of the toll cabins, and an attacker was seen beating up the staff and also throwing chairs and breaking window glasses.

According to police, the incident took place at around 10pm when some men in an SUV, a Maruti Brezza, had altercation with the toll staff about paying up the toll and later some unidentified men arrived on motorcycles and attacked the toll staff.

“The men on motorcycles came about 15-20 minutes after the Brezza went away. There was some technical snag with the server at the toll, so the SUV could not be identified immediately. But we have deployed teams to trace the suspects. One of them was nabbed and others will soon be identified and arrested. The men are from nearby Masuri area,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).

Police said that they lodged an FIR against unidentified suspects for rioting, robbery, causing hurt and criminal intimidation at Masuri police station.

“The toll staff filed a police complaint in connection with the incident and police are taking up investigation,” said Mudit Grag, project director, National Highways Authority of India.

The complainant, Rakesh Pathak, is one of the staff at the Dasna toll plaza. “They were 8-10 men who had come on four motorcycles to the toll at around 10pm on Sunday. As soon as they arrived, they started beating up the toll staff and also damaged the equipment and broke the window glasses. They also snatched ₹1,260 in cash from the toll staff and fled before issuing threats and hurling abuses,” Pathak said in his police complaint.

In Ghaziabad, the 135km long Eastern Peripheral Expressway has toll plazas at Dasna and Duhai interchanges.