Retired policeman, family attacked with rods, sticks

Rathi, his son Sunil and grandson (16) suffered injuries on their hand, back and stomach in the attack at around 11.30 am.

“Around 20 people arrived at the Mauni Baba temple in the locality where I was sitting and started hitting me. One of the attackers also robbed me of Rs 13,000,” said Gopi Chand. The attackers then turned to his son and grandson.

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“They came to my shop, and attacked me and my son. They hit me in the stomach. My son was hit on the head. They took away Rs 18,000 from the shop,” Sunil said.

Gopi Chand alleged that two of the attackers had tried to break into their neighbour’s house the previous night. “My son was awake, waiting for a sand truck. He saw three men on a motorcycle stop near our house. They were armed with rods and machetes. As one of them tried to break the lock of our neighbour’s house, my son raised an alarm and snatched the bike keys. One of the men fled,” Gopi Chand said.

By then, more people had arrived at the spot and caught hold of the other two men. They were handed over to the police, who later let them off.

Saying that there was CCTV footage of the attempted break-in, he said the two men were part of the gang that attacked them on Monday. “How could the police let off the two men who tried to break into a house. They attacked us to take revenge,” he said.

Gopi Chand said after the attack, New Usmanpur police station station house officer (SHO) met him and assured of quick action.

But, he alleged that when he reached the police station at around 1 pm on Monday, the SHO told him to change his statement. “I was told not to link the attempted break-in with Monday’s attack,” he alleged.

Gopi Chand said the fact that he was a retired police officer didn’t help.

“At around 9 pm, additional DCP (northeast) Rajendra Singh Sagar heard me out and directed the ACP to register an FIR,” he said, adding that he returned home only after midnight.

The FIR was registered at the New Usmanpur police station under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 392 (punishment for robbery), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention).

When his comments were sought, deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Venu Bansal said he was aware of the incident and investigations were on.