delhi

Updated: Jun 10, 2019 07:18 IST

Two journalists working with a TV news channel and their driver had a narrow escape early on Sunday when two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants chased and fired at them at the Barapullah flyover in south Delhi.

Though no one was hurt in incident, three shots were fired at the office taxi that the ABP News crew was travelling in -- one got lodged in door on the driver’s side, the second missed its mark, and the third went through the car window but exited from the other side having missed everyone.

The journalists alleged that when they approached three officers posted at a police picket near INA Market to report the incident, the officers did not “show any interest” in probing the matter. Following the allegations, Delhi Police suspended three police personnel for the alleged lack of prompt response.

A reporting team from ABP News channel was on its way to central Delhi’s Bapa Nagar from Noida to report the murder of a businessman at around 1.30am on the flyover near CGO Complex when two men on a motorcycle closed in on their vehicle, one of the journalists told HT.

The car was moving on the Barapullah flyover towards INA at a speed of around 50 kmph when two men riding a bike overtook their vehicle near the CGO Complex, he added.

“The bike rider signalled me to stop. I alerted my cameraman, who immediately sensed trouble and asked the driver to accelerate. Seeing us speed away, the rider fired three shots at us from a gun he was holding in his left hand,” news reporter Siddharth Purohit said, adding the bikers chased them for about a kilometre on the flyway before driving off.

The three —Purohit, video journalist Arvind Kumar and driver Chander Sen Vimal — said they suspect that the assailants were either carjackers or robbers.

One bullet hit the driver’s door. The driver and the video journalist, sitting in the front seat, did not get hurt because the bullet did not penetrate the door. One bullet hit the window on the driver’s side and went out through the front passenger’s window, missing everyone inside.

“A third bullet appeared to have missed its target and went into the air,” said Purohit.

He alleged that three policemen who were deployed at a picket near INA Market Metro station did not respond to their complaint. “The policemen showed no interest in making any efforts to alert the police control room or chase and catch the assailants. Instead of helping us the policemen took some pictures of our car, then they removed their barricades, grabbed their belongings and left,” Purohit alleged.

He also alleged that the first police team arrived at the crime scene almost one-and-a-half hours after he called the police control room. “I made the call at 1.33am but the first police team arrived at the scene only at 3am. Had the police responded on time, the assailants could have been caught,” he added.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (south) Parvinder Singh said that a case of attempt to murder, robbery and arms act was registered in connection with the incident. “The case has been transferred to the crime branch for further probe. A sketch of one of the suspects has been prepared with the physical descriptions shared by the occupants of the car,” Singh said. He said that the passengers in the car could not get a clear view of the man riding pillion on the motorcycle.

On Sunday, Delhi Police took to Twitter to release case updates. The city police said that three police personnel who were on picket duty have been suspended for the lack of prompt response.

Joint commissioner of police (southern range) Devesh Chandra Srivastava held a meeting with the deputy commissioners of police of three districts on Sunday to discuss measures that can be taken to control such crimes in the Capital. “In the meeting, we particularly reviewed the deployment of police personnel along the Barapullah Flyover. The allegations against the three officers are very serious in nature and such incidents will not be tolerated in the future,” Srivastava said.