The accused lives in Sonpura village. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav) The accused lives in Sonpura village. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav)

A team of CBI officers was allegedly thrashed by family members of another CBI officer, whom they had gone to arrest in Greater Noida on Saturday. Sunil Dutt, a suspended assistant sub-inspector in CBI’s Delhi unit, had been named in an FIR for alleged bribery in connection with the 2012-13 Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority land scam. The FIR against him was filed earlier this year.

When the CBI team went to make the arrest, Sunil’s brothers and relatives allegedly assaulted the officers at their home in Sonpura village and looted them as well.

“A CBI team comprising an inspector, sub-inspector, two constables and a women constable, had gone today to Sonpura in search of ASI Sunil Dutt and to serve notice. The team was attacked by members of his extended family and others in order to help Sunil escape from the place. The team was forced inside the premises and beaten up. It is alleged that mobile phones, diaries and I-cards of the members were burnt. The accused, Sunil, fled through the back door. A complaint has been filed,” the CBI said in a statement.

The team members were allegedly held hostage inside Sunil’s property, the agency claimed, adding that the officers were later rescued by the local police and taken to the hospital for treatment.

Police said an FIR under IPC sections 395 (punishment for dacoity), 225 (restriction to lawful apprehension), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 353 (assault or criminal force) has been registered against Sunil and his relatives at Ecotech 3 police station. One of his brothers, Yadveer Singh, has been arrested while others, including Sunil, are absconding.

The Delhi Branch of the CBI had earlier arrested V S Rathore, a CBI inspector from Ghaziabad, and Ranveer Singh, an Uttar Pradesh tehsildar, for their alleged involvement in the land scam, which relates to the acquisition of around 58 hectares in “scattered pockets” in seven villages along the Yamuna Expressway, allegedly at inflated rates, for construction of “exit and entry ramps”.

Eyewitnesses said chaos erupted in Sunil’s farmhouse when the CBI team entered to make the arrest around 10 am. “They went after all the men. The female constable stayed back in the car. We later saw one of the officers running to the other end of the narrow road, and into the fields, to escape. The others were locked inside the house,” said Devi, a neighbour.

According to police, Sunil stays with his five brothers and two children at their village.

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