Two walk 12km in scorching heat to collect salaries, robbers leave them poorer

“We had briefly halted at a traffic junction in Shastri Park, about 2km from our home, to rest our tired legs. That’s when three men pounced on us. They choked us and punched us before running away with our money and mobile phones,” Singh, 32, one of the two men, said.

Rajendra Singh and Chandan Paswan walked 12 kilometres from east Delhi’s Kailash Nagar to north Delhi’s Model Town on Sunday. It took them a little over three hours in the scorching heat to complete the torturous journey, but considering that they got their monthly salary at the end of it, it was well worth the effort.

Rajendra Singh and Chandan Paswan walked 12 kilometres from east Delhi’s Kailash Nagar to north Delhi’s Model Town on Sunday (Amal KS/HT PHOTO (representative))

Their joy was, however, short-lived; with barely 2km left to reach back home, they fell prey to three robbers wielding knives, who assaulted them and made off with their phones and the money.

“We had briefly halted at a traffic junction in Shastri Park, about 2km from our home, to rest our tired legs. That’s when three men pounced on us. They choked us and punched us before running away with our money and mobile phones,” Singh, 32, one of the two men, said.

For Singh, it was sheer desperation that forced him to make the arduous walk. He works at a cosmetics shop in Sadar Bazaar and was left with just about ₹5,000 when the lockdown was announced on March 24. By the beginning of April, most of that money was exhausted. “My two sons are five years and 18 months old. Buying milk and daily grocery finished off whatever little I had,” Singh, who lives in a rented home in Kailash Nagar, said.

His employer, who lives in Model Town, agreed to help, but said he would not be able to transfer the money to his bank account or e-wallet. “I told him I would walk to his home on Sunday,” Singh said.

On Sunday, Singh asked his colleague Chandan Paswan, who lives with his uncle in nearby Usmanpur, if he would like to accompany him and he agreed. “We just had tea and set out at 9am with the ₹150 in my pocket and our phones. We carried a bottle of water each, but finished that within minutes of our walk,” Singh said.

The cash in their pocket didn’t come handy as they found no shop open on the way.

They reached their employer’s home around 12.30pm. “We waited outside for 15-20 minutes while our employer had his lunch. He finally gave ₹6,000 to me and ₹5,000 to Paswan. But no one offered us water or food,” Singh said.

As they walked back, they were fortunate to find a shop from where Singh spent his loose change to buy two water bottles and some snacks. “Our legs had blisters, but we continued to walk --- at least our money problems were sorted for next few weeks,” he said.

And then they reached the traffic junction in Shastri Park around 3.30pm. “Suddenly, three men carrying knives jumped us and asked us to hand over our cash. We lied to them and said we were daily wage earners, but they choked both of us and searched our pockets,” Singh said.

The robbers took it all --- the salaries totalling ₹11,000, the phones and ₹100 in loose change that Singh had on him. “They fled into a forested area nearby. They even punched me and injured me in my eye,” Singh said.

With no phone to even call the police, the men walked to Paswan’s home which was closer.

“We used his uncle’s phone to call the police. The police took us to Shastri Park police station and kept us there till 9pm without offering us even water. Instead, they scolded us for walking and not calling the police control room number if we were short of food,” Singh said.

“Would the police have given me cash or brought me milk for the children if I had called them?” Singh said.

The police have registered a case of robbery and efforts are on to arrest the suspects and recover the stolen cash and phones, DK Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara), said. “We’ll ensure that both families are cared for,” the DCP said when asked about the treatment they received at the police station.

Singh, meanwhile, has been forced to borrow ₹500 from his neighbour to sustain his family for a few days. “I don’t know what I’ll do after that,” he said.