noida

Updated: May 21, 2019 11:44 IST

In yet another incident at the 24Seven store at Shopprix Mall in Vaishali, several unidentified armed men allegedly opened fire and vandalised the store between 1am and 2am on Monday, the police said.

The Ghaziabad police said that they have registered an FIR naming television actor Aansh Arora and five to six other unidentified persons for allegedly being involved in the incident.

In a late night incident on May 11, Arora had allegedly vandalised items at the store following an altercation with the store staff.

He was picked up by the police when he went to the store again, on the night of May 12.

According to Arora, he had gone to the store to apologise for his behaviour and to pay for the damages but, he had alleged the police picked him up and subjected him to “third degree torture” at the Indirapuram police station.

After he was let go on bail, he sent a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) alleging torture.

Police officers, however, had denied any such incident.

“Regarding the May 20 incident, we have registered an FIR for attempt to murder, rioting, causing damages and issuing threats. Aansh has been named besides several other unidentified persons. We have registered an FIR based on the complaint and investigation is on in the case. We will scan the CCTV footage as well. The guard gave a statement that one of the persons (in the May 20 incident) has been taking Arora’s name and threatening him,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.

“The investigation will be able to establish whether Arora was involved or not. Prima facie, the latest incident seems to be connected with the previous incident but more can emerge only during investigation,” the SP (city) added.

Arora did not respond to repeated calls and text messages sent to him on the issue.

However, he posted a video recorded message on his social media profile on Monday evening in which he said: “The police are trying to build pressure on me and I have heard that they can lodge a case against me and put me in jail. I had complained of third degree torture which they did to me. They are pressurising me to close the matter and to not give anything to media. I am fearful and not able to move out of my house,” he alleged in the Instagram video he posted.

Arora had sent a complaint to the NHRC along with several photographs purportedly showing bluish marks on his feet and also pictures of him recuperating at a hospital.

After he was picked up on May 12, the police had challaned Arora under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and later levied relevant sections of the Indian Penal code after the CCTV footage of May 11 had emerged.

The store officials said that their legal team has given a complaint regarding the May 20 incident.

“Yesterday night, several people came to the store and damaged a majority of the items. They were five to seven people. We estimate a loss of about Rs 25-30 lakh. They were armed with rods and weapons. We have CCTV footage of the incident. This could be linked to the previous May 11 incident involving Arora. The men were saying to our staff that such things will happen if you give complaints,” Anup Kumar, in-charge of 24Seven store, said.

“Our staff got frightened as a result. We have given a complaint. The incident on the night of May 11 caused us an estimated loss of about Rs 4.5 lakh. The men who had come to our store on May 20 also opened fire,” he added.

Vikram Bhati, manager (administration), Shopprix Mall, said that the guard of the mall had to open fire to drive the attackers away.

“They had come to the mall with rods and sticks. We are trying to procure the CCTV footage. The store has given the complaint to the police,” he said.