Greater Noida: Murdered Gaur City resident’s family files complaint against police laxity

Family members and relatives of 40-year-old Gaurav Chandel who was robbed and murdered on Tuesday believe that had the Greater Noida Police been “proactive”, the

Family members and relatives of 40-year-old Gaurav Chandel who was robbed and murdered on Tuesday believe that had the Greater Noida Police been “proactive”, the tragedy could have been avoided.

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According to wife Preeti Chandel, she and around 10 to 15 neighbours had reached the Bisrakh police station around 1am after they had been given various locations by the Noida Police.

“They told us that live tracking and call records would be available only at 10am. If they had put in some effort, we might have been able to reach him on time,” said Preeti.

Neighbours alleged that they searched around for Gaurav and his SUV for hours.

“Noida police personnel were accompanying us but when their jurisdiction ended, they suggested we go to Bisrakh police station. Had they sent out men with us or even one police response vehicle (PRV) or any other police vehicle to look for him, we might have found him on time and taken him to a hospital,” said Sanjay Kishor, a family friend.

He said that the Bisrakh police was uncooperative.

Residents also said that they have urged Bisrakh police several times for more frequent patrolling.

“There has always been a dearth of police presence. We don’t have adequate street lights. People don’t dare venture onto certain stretches. Police gets into action only when some tragedy happens,” said Sumil Jalota, another resident of Greater Noida West.

The residents went to the Bisrakh police station to highlight police inactivity and also filed a complaint with the Gautam Budh Nagar senior superintendent of police (SSP).

“They have given a complaint to us in writing. The issues are being investigated and we will take due action against any erring police personnel,” said SSP Vaibhav Krishna.

A senior police officer said their priority would be to nab the killers.

“There was definitely some error on part of the cops, but it is true that the technical information would have come only after 10 am,” said the policeman who didn’t wish to be identified.