Gurgaon: Man beaten to death, police lodge case only after 12 hours

Family members alleged the police made them run from one police station to another citing issues of jurisdiction and saying they were not sure under which station the case would fall.

A private bus operator was beaten to death near busy Iffco Chowk around 6pm on Monday, just a few metres away from the police booth at the junction.

The man, Amit Dabas, 25, was a resident of Mundka in Delhi. (HT photo)

However, the police took more than 12 hours to register the case even after the slain man’s family approached them with a complaint.

The family members alleged that the police made them run from one police station to another citing issues of jurisdiction and saying they were not sure under which station the case would fall.

The man, Amit Dabas, 25, was a resident of Mundka in Delhi. The accused have been identified as Vinit, Pravesh, Ravinder and Moda, all residents of Bahadurgarh, Haryana, the police said. No one has been arrested and all accused are absconding.

Amit was assaulted at Iffco Chowk, one of the busiest junctions of Gurgaon. Yet, no once came to his help, family members claimed. (HT photo)

According to the police, the incident took place around 6 pm on Monday when four men, including a maternal cousin of Amit, attacked him following a disagreement about bus routes. The police said Amit was plying buses on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and his cousin Vinit, also a bus operator, was not very happy with this. This led to a rivalry between them.

Amit was assaulted on one of the busiest junctions of Gurgaon. Yet, no once came to his help, family members claimed.

“After he was thrashed, Amit made a phone call to the Gurgaon police control room. But, the police did not arrive at the scene. After waiting for a long time for the police to turn up, the driver of the bus took Amit to a private hospital in Dwarka where he was declared brought dead,” Amit’s relative said. The family members claimed that the Delhi Police informed them about Amit’s death and they approached the Gurgaon police to register a case.

However, the officers at the Sector 17/18 police station and Udyog Vihar police station kept transferring the case on the pretext of jurisdiction. Eventually, an FIR was registered at the Udyog Vihar police station at 6 am on Tuesday.

Inspector Sube Singh, SHO of the Udyog Vihar police station, said, “A case has been registered under sections 302 (murder), 334 (voluntarily causing hurt on provocation) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) of the IPC against the accused at the Udyog Vihar police station.”

On the matter of the inordinate delay in registering the case, the officer declined comment.

Amit’s family said that a few months ago, he was shot at by the four accused and an FIR was registered by the Delhi Police in that case.