Accuses cops of diluting FIR and trying to downplay incident.
A Gurgaon-based couple, on an outing to New Delhi’s upscale Khan Market area, was allegedly attacked by an angry mob after a scuffle broke out over parking between the couple and local shopkeepers and parking attendants in the area.
The incident took place on the evening of 31 October when the couple had gone to Khan Market with their friend who was visiting from Canada to show him around the city, when they got caught in this traumatic experience of “mob attack” by some 70-100 people over parking their vehicle at a parking spot in Khan Market.
Insiyah Vahanvaty, who was in the middle of this mob attack, had first taken to social media to bring this incident to light. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Insiyah said, “We were showing our friend around and decided to stop for a bite to eat at Khan Market. As we were looking for parking, my husband spotted a slot, and got out of the car to manage the traffic behind me, while I reversed into the parking spot. While he requested the cars behind to wait for a minute, the impatient driver of the car he was standing in front of got enraged at being made to wait, accelerated and nudged his car into my husband’s legs. Losing his balance, my husband fell onto the road. Following this, a heated exchange of words happened between my husband and the driver. The matter should have rested there.”
However, according to Vahanvaty, the driver had called out to the people around and in no time, some 15-20 angry people had gathered around their car, angrily hurling abuses and charging at their car. “Our car was attacked with hockey sticks, iron rods and cricket bats leading to both our front as well as rear windshields being broken. They were shaking our car violently, trying to overturn it, and we even heard them shouting to each another to burn the car. And during all this time, the mob swelled from 20 people to some 80 bloodthirsty people trying to kill us,” Vahanvaty said.
She also alleged that the local police chowki, which was at a stone’s throw away, did little to help them and had only come to their rescue after almost 30 minutes of the incident.
An FIR in this case was lodged at the Tuglak Road police station under the New Delhi district and five people, including the driver and his associate and three parking attendants, were arrested and later let out on bail.
The couple have also alleged that the police has diluted the FIR and is trying to downplay the incident. “The police are trying to protect the culprits and the FIR has been diluted which is why within 24 hours, all the arrested were let out on bail. Moreover, out of the 80 people who went on a rampage, the police arrested only five. We had also demanded a copy of the CCTV footage from the police, which they have not given us yet.”
Madhur Verma, DCP, New Delhi, told this newspaper: “There has been no evidence of the serious allegations being made by the couple. It was a minor incident and it erupted over a scuffle related to parking which led to heated arguments and some people breaking their car’s rear windshield. A case has already been registered and five people had been arrested in this case.”
The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, which is investigating the serious allegations being made by the couple.