Staffer shot at over toll row on Gurgaon-Faridabad road

The police have booked four unidentified persons on charges of firing at a staffer at Gurgaon-Faridabad toll plaza on Monday evening. The incident followed an argument between the men and the staffer over payment of toll.

Police booked four unidentified persons on charges of firing at a staffer at Gurgaon-Faridabad toll plaza on Monday evening. The incident followed an argument between the men and the staffer over payment of toll.

Arguments over paying toll are frequent at toll plazas across Gurgaon road, including Gurgaon-Faridabad road (above). (HT File)

Police said the bullet hit a pillar and the men fled the spot. A case was filed at the DLF Phase 1 police station for attempt to murder and under sections of the Arms Act. The search for the accused is on, police said.

Toll staffer Jitender Poswal said in his complaint that four men came in a white Maruti Swift around 6 pm on Monday. When he asked them to pay the toll, they started arguing with him. They drove the vehicle past the toll plaza, and one of the accused came out of the car and shot at Poswal.

They drove away before security staff at the toll plaza could reach them. Assistant sub-inspector Amit Kumar, the investigating officer, said there is no CCTV camera footage of the incident. “We have the registration number of the vehicle in which the men were travelling. We have asked transport authorities to give details of the vehicle and will nab the accused soon,” Kumar said.

In a similar incident, a toll staffer, 22-year-old Umeshkant Pandey, was shot dead in September 2011 at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. An SUV driver, who wanted to avoid paying a fee of ₹27 fee, got into an altercation with Pandey. He showed Pandey his ID card issued for local villagers after which Pandey opened the boom barrier and allowed the vehicle to pass through.

The man, however, shot Pandey in the chest. Police had arrested two persons in the case.

In September 2012, a 25-year-old toll employee, Aatish Kumar, was shot at on the Gurgaon-Alwar highway in Badshahpur. Around 20 attackers ransacked the toll and robbed ₹1 lakh of the employee. The incident allegedly happened over rivalry for the contract of the toll.