Delhi Police constable, friend held over firing in road rage case

The incident occurred at Baba Haridas Nagar in south-west Delhi on Thursday night.

A Delhi Police constable and his friend were arrested on Saturday in connection with the firing over an alleged road rage incident in which a private bank manager was shot at in front of his three friends.

The accused constable’s service pistol was allegedly used by his friend to fire the shot. (Representative image)

The accused constable’s service pistol was allegedly used by his friend to fire the shot.

The incident occurred at Baba Haridas Nagar in south-west Delhi on Thursday night, the police said on Sunday morning.

Police officials probing the case said that the bullet was fired by Rajesh, who was identified by his first name, the friend of constable Surender, who was posted at the Jahangirpuri police station.

The injured bank manager, Laxman Bhandari, and his three friends did not know the accused or Surender was a police constable since he was not in uniform, when the road rage incident occurred, the officials said.

“The involvement of a policeman emerged in the case after the doctors who operated upon Bhandari found that he was shot at by a pistol that had a 9 millimetre (mm) bore. Usually, policemen use this kind of pistol. The investigating team scanned the footage of closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras installed at the crime spot and identified Srurender and Rajesh. Investigators questioned Suernder and arrested him along with Rajesh after ascertaining their involvement in the crime,” said one of the police officials, who did not want to be named.

Santosh Kumar Meena, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka), Delhi Police, said: “It was a road rage incident. Surender has been arrested along with his friend (Rajesh) for the crime. He was returning home after duty and wasn’t in uniform at the time of the incident.”

A case of attempt to murder under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Baba Haridas Nagar police station. The service pistol used in the crime was also seized. The case was registered following the complaint of Bhandari’s friend Rahul, one of the eyewitnesses of the road rage incident.

Rahul in his complaint told the police that on Thursday night, he had partied with his friends – Bhandari, Dinesh and Keshav -- at Najafgarh in outer Delhi.

Dinesh and Keshav left on their motorcycle after the party, while Rahul and Bhandari left on another two-wheeler, the police said.

On the way, two men in a car stopped Dinesh and Keshav and asked them to lift an allegedly inebriated person lying on the road along with his motorcycle.

Dinesh and Keshav refused to help the allegedly inebriated person, which led to a heated argument. Dinesh called Rahul and informed him about the quarrel. Rahul and Bhandari arrived at the spot to help their friends, said the official, quoted above.

“Soon, the altercation turned violent. Surender took out his service pistol and handed it over to Rajesh, who fired a bullet. The bullet hit Bhandari’s abdomen and he slumped on the road. Surender and Rajesh fled from the spot, instead of taking Bhandari to an adjoining hospital,” the official added.