It’s a bad time to be a traffic cop in Delhi, especially with commuter anger rising with the summer temperature. And now in the latest incident of the force being targeted on the city’s volatile roads, a traffic constable was ‘abducted’ by a truck driver in central Delhi on Wednesday night, leading to a dramatic chase by his colleagues.
Constable Dinesh stopped the truck overloaded with sand near Mandir Marg and hopped on for a document check when the driver and his helper suddenly took off with him standing precariously on the left footboard, the police said.
He hung on as the truck hit 100kmph and drove for almost 15 minutes covering five kilometres — 10 PCR vans with 40 policemen in hot pursuit.
The constable was conducting vehicle checks with nine colleagues, including three members of a PCR van. “The PCR van flashed a message to the control room that the truck driver had forcibly taken away the constable with the truck,” DCP (PCR) RK Singh said.
Head constable Krishan Kumar, in one of the vans, fired three rounds at the tyres of the truck, which managed to go almost two kilometers with a deflated right tyre. Constable Dinesh’s ordeal finally ended as the truck stopped near the Hanuman temple on the Pusa Road-Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Marg roundabout after some locals and policemen hurled bricks and stones, breaking its windshield.
The driver, Mohammad Tareef, ran towards the Ridge but the police managed to catch him and marched him to the Mandir Marg police station where he was booked on charges of kidnapping, assaulting a public servant and obstructing him from carrying on his duty. The cleaner, however, got away.
{{/usCountry}}The driver, Mohammad Tareef, ran towards the Ridge but the police managed to catch him and marched him to the Mandir Marg police station where he was booked on charges of kidnapping, assaulting a public servant and obstructing him from carrying on his duty. The cleaner, however, got away.
{{/usCountry}}A probe is on to ascertain if the sand in the truck was a result of illegal mining, police sources said.
The vehicle, with a Haryana number, was carrying the sand from the neighbouring state’s Mewat region to Karol Bagh in the Capital.
Last month, a traffic constable was dismissed after being involved in a scuffle with a woman and hurling a brick at her, reportedly after being attacked first.