Men, Gzb traffic police clash on road, viral videos prompt FIR after 12 days

The Ghaziabad police on Saturday booked eight to 10 men, including Ghaziabad municipal corporation’s sitting councillor, for the alleged assault on traffic police personnel at Chaudhary Morh on the intervening night of July 16/17

The Ghaziabad police on Saturday booked eight to 10 men, including Ghaziabad municipal corporation’s sitting councillor, for the alleged assault on traffic police personnel at Chaudhary Morh on the intervening night of July 16/17.

The police said several of the men involved in the clash, including a couple of traffic personnel, were in an inebriated condition on the night of the incident. (HT Photo)

The police said several of the men involved in the clash, including a couple of traffic personnel, were in an inebriated condition on the night of the incident. Later, they and the traffic police involved settled the issue amicably. However, several videos of the incident was widely shared on social media in the days that followed, prompting the police to register an FIR, 12 days after the incident, on Saturday.

The FIR was registered at Kotwali police station under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The FIR names Abhishek Chaudhary, a municipal councillor from ward number 52 of Kotgaon, his brother Arpit Chaudhary, who is an engineer in Agra, and four others besides other unidentified persons.

“The FIR has been registered on July 29, while the incident happened on the intervening night of July 16/17. There was a delay as the two parties had reached a compromise. Taking cognisance of the videos, an FIR was registered.We have also suspended a traffic sub-inspector and a traffic constable for misconduct as they seemed to be in an inebriated state at the time of the incident. Investigation is underway,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city).

The videos which went viral show a car, Arpit Chaudhary’s Nexon, overtaking a Maruti Swift, in which the two traffic personnel were travelling, at the Chaudhary Morh intersection.The Nexon stopped and two men alighted from the car.

“The two traffic personnel were in an inebriated state. They kept repeatedly hoking behind my brother’s car. My brother and two others overtook them and alighted from their car. When they questioned the two in the Swift about the honking, they turned out to be traffic police personnel in uniform. A scuffle broke out. Later, my brother was taken to the Model Town police post and beaten severely; his mobile phone was also snatched. This phone was later handed over to us by the police saying it was recovered from a drain near Loha Mandi,” said Abhishek Chaudhary.

He said he came to know of the incident after one of the persons accompanying Arpit Chaudhary called him. He soon reached the police post with his family members, including women.

“By then, the traffic sub-inspector and the constable had fled and I insisted to get their medical check done. In my presence, my brother was trying to question police and a video also showed that I slapped him in public in order to keep him quiet. The same night, I gave a police complaint but they requested that the matter be resolved amicably, else the two erring personnel would lose their jobs. We reached a compromise. But now they have lodged an FIR. against us. I will approach senior police officials to lodge our complaint,” Abhishek said.

One of the videos also shows several policemen holding a man and a traffic personnel beating him with a lathi. Chaudhary said it was his brother who was beaten up.

One other video shows a man in traffic police uniform in a car with Bollywood song playing. He was abused and questioned by several men, purportedly Chaudhary’s group.