delhi

Updated: Feb 08, 2018 23:39 IST

A police picket, meant to keep people safe, was responsible for the horrific death of a 21-year-old biker who rode into a metal wire used to tie two unmanned barricades in north-west Delhi’s Shakurpur in the early hours of Thursday.

The incident took place at 1.18am, according to the time stamp on the CCTV footage, when disc jockey Abhishek Kashyap was returning home from a wedding near Britannia Chowk. He died just two kilometres from his house in Shakurpur JJ colony.

The wire was barely visible in the near darkness, according to locals who reached the spot within minutes of the accident. “The wire got entangled around his neck. He suffering a deep gash on his neck, fell on the road, and his bike rolled on for almost 10 feet before hitting the road divider,” said Vishal, a washerman who lives close by.

Kashyap’s death sparked anger in the locality, with more than 200 people staging a protest outside the police station, demanding action against the local police, and blocking the busy Britannia Chowk intersection for more than an hour.

A case of death by negligence has been registered at the Netaji Subhash Place police station. While the station house officer (SHO) has been moved from his post, the beat staff of seven policemen has been suspended.

“A departmental enquiry has been initiated. A parallel probe has been ordered to find out the source of the metal wire and the police personnel who had tied the barricades with it,” said Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (northwest).

The barricades were kept to restrict entry and exit on both carriageways of the road in a bid to curb vehicle thefts and snatching incidents in the neighbourhood. “Both the carriageways had one police barricade each. The barricades were tied with a metal wire, extending to two poles on either side,” Khan said.

Kashyap’s father, Sanjay Kumar, said a passerby saw him lying on the road and called the police control room. The family alleged that policemen near the accident spot removed the wire and left without helping Kashyap, who was bleeding on the road.

But the police refuted the allegation. “A patrol van with an ambulance arrived in less than two minutes after the PCR call and rushed Kashyap to Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” Khan said. The police are waiting for Kashyap’s autopsy report to know the exact cause of death. “There is a cut mark around his neck,” Khan added.

Former Delhi Police commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma said putting barricades on the road on a daily basis was “not good practice”. “They should be used only if there is an urgent need, such as catching a criminal who is trying to escape after committing a crime,” Sharma said. “It appears there has been some carelessness on the part of the police by not considering the safety of the passersby.”