CATS staffers attacked by mob in outer Delhi for foiling theft bid, 8 ambulances vandalised

The violence, which lasted for nearly 20 minutes, took place at Mangolpuri’s L-block community centre that has been turned into a temporary base station for CATS ambulances and staffers hired from Uttar Pradesh by the Delhi government.

Eight paramedics and drivers of the Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) ambulance fleet were injured -- two of them critically -- and as many as eight ambulances vandalised by a mob of 25-30 who attacked the emergency workers with knives, blades and sticks in outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri on Monday night over the attempted theft of a tablet.

The driver and the ambulance had returned to its temporary base station after shifting a positive Covid-19 patient to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital when the attempted snatching took place. (REUTERS/ File photo)

The violence, which lasted for nearly 20 minutes, took place at Mangolpuri’s L-block community centre that has been turned into a temporary base station for CATS ambulances and staffers hired from Uttar Pradesh by the Delhi government.

The injured persons alleged that the attack happened after a few CATS employees caught a local resident and his two associates trying to steal a tablet, provided to each CATS ambulance for attending emergency calls, from a driver. The driver and the ambulance had returned to its temporary base station after shifting a positive Covid-19 patient to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital when the attempted snatching took place.

Shahzad Rajput, the driver whose tablet they tried to snatch, said, “Around 8pm, I was attending a call when three-four men arrived and tried to snatch the tablet and my cellphone. I resisted and caught one of them with the help of my co-workers. Soon, a group of 25-30 people arrived and tried to free the man from us. They pelted stones and bricks at us and attacked us with sticks and weapons. I suffered cuts on my back and forearm.”

Apart from Rajput, seven other CATS staffers were injured. They were identified as Javed, Arun Mishra, Anil Babu, Dinesh Kumar, Ambrish, Akhilesh Dubey, and Mahender Dubey.

Akhilesh, Arun and Dinesh are paramedics, while the others are drivers. Mahender and Ambrish, who were seriously injured, are still undergoing treatment.

The damaged ambulances were on Covid-19 duty and the injured staffers are all front-line workers in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The windscreens and glasses of all the eight CATS ambulances were smashed in the stone pelting. The ambulances will be taken off emergency services until they are repaired and that may take at least a week, said the injured CATS employees.

The injured men claimed that they made two calls to the police but they reached the spot 30 minutes after the incident. “One of the policemen tried to frighten us; he said the attackers were all local criminals and since we were outsiders, we should not be getting into a confrontation with them. Almost 17 hours have passed since the attack on us, but not a single culprit has been arrested,” alleged Javed, an injured driver.

The police said the locals turned violent after they learnt that the CATS staffers had allegedly tied up the suspected snatcher and assaulted him.

“We have registered a case and are looking for the persons who damaged the ambulances and freed their associate who had tried to snatch a phone from an ambulance driver,” said deputy commissioner of police (outer) A Koan.

There are two more base stations at the community centres of R and N blocks in Mangolpuri. Nearly 20 newly hired CATS ambulances are stationed at the three base stations and their drivers as well as paramedic staff have been given accommodations there itself, said Jitender Kaushik, president, CATS ambulance staff union.