Mukherjee Nagar case: Sword wielding Delhi tempo driver arrested four times in 13 years

The 45-year-old driver, however, is yet to be arrested in the Mukherjee Nagar case in which he has been booked for attacking a police team. No policeman has been arrested either in the case filed against them on the complaint made by the driver.

The tempo driver, who allegedly attacked a police team with a sword outside the Mukherjee Nagar police station Sunday evening, had been arrested four times in the past 13 years, most recently in April, when he allegedly assaulted a volunteer at Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, the police said Tuesday.

Protests on Monday night led to further ruckus after a crowd descended on Mukherjee Nagar police station, demanding action. (HT Photo)

The 45-year-old driver, however, is yet to be arrested in the Mukherjee Nagar case in which he has been booked for attacking a police team. No policeman has been arrested either in the case filed against them on the complaint made by the driver.

The series of incidents, during which the driver’s son allegedly attempted to run over some policemen before the father-son duo was thrashed by the police, led to more ruckus on Monday night after a crowd descended on Mukherjee Nagar police station, demanding action against the policemen involved.

Tuesday morning, Manjinder S Sirsa, president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, took to Twitter to say that the “issue is completed sorted out (sic)”. Calling the Delhi Police commissioner a “justice-minded person who has ensured FIR to be lodged against the guilty police officials (sic)”, Sirsa also thanked home minister Amit Shah for “addressing the issue”.

Vijayanta Arya, deputy commissioner of police (north-west), said “the driver had been arrested in a case of assault in April and he was put in “preventive arrests” thrice in the past.

The “preventive arrests”, under section 107/151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), were between 2006 and 2013. He was let off without any FIRs against him, said an officer, who didn’t wish to be identified.

“On each occasion, he was involved in a fight. Preventive arrests were to maintain peace in the area,” the officer said.

On April 3 this year, the man was held by the Parliament Street police for allegedly causing hurt, wrongful restraint and criminal intimidation. “He was released on bail. The case is pending a charge sheet,” another officer said. As per the FIR, the man and his son were staying at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi for three or four days in April, when the alleged fight took place. When two ‘sevadars (volunteers)’ sought to know his identity on April 3, the man allegedly fought with them, ‘sevadar’ Mangal Singh said in his statement.

“While we were taking the duo to the manager’s office, the son tried to run away. When I tried to hold on to the boy, his father twisted my arm, threw me to the ground, began scuffling with me and threatened to kill me,” the FIR further quoted Mangal. Singh was injured and hospitalised and the driver arrested.

But when HT called Mangal on Tuesday about that incident, he denied that he was assaulted by anyone. “I fell accidentally and injured myself,” he said. About his statement to the police, Mangal said he couldn’t recollect it as he was in hospital when it was recorded.

HT’s attempts to meet the driver for his response to these allegations failed as he couldn’t be found either at his north Delhi home or at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, which he has been repeatedly visiting since the incident.

Sunday’s incident took a political turn after the driver alleged that policemen had thrown his turban on the road and kicked it. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Captain Amarinder Singh, had taken to Twitter to demand action against the errant policemen.

The police registered cross-FIRs, one against the father-son duo and another against some policemen, and acknowledged that some of their men were involved in “excesses” as they kept beating the two even after overpowering them.

Meanwhile, people affiliated to the auto-rickshaw and electronic rickshaw drivers’ unions of the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Delhi Police headquarters demanding their “safety” and “security” from the police in light of Sunday’s incident in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar.