Car hit pilgrim, which led to argument and vandalising

The Delhi Police has registered a case against unknown persons after several videos showing a group of kanwariyas vandalising a car in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar went viral, the police said on Wednesday.

The police said that a call was received at 5.38 p.m. on Tuesday stating that a car had hit a kanwariya near the Moti Nagar metro station and that a group of kanwariyas had started smashing the car with sticks.

Four PCR and staff from the Moti Nagar police station arrived at the spot within 10 minutes. The car was found damaged and overturned. The occupants of the car had managed to escape the violent crowd. Locals said that the car was being driven by a woman, who had a male passenger.

The CCTV footage of the incident were recovered from a nearby shop.

Woman ‘slapped’ pilgrim

During investigation, it was found that one of the kanwariyas was hit by a car at a red light. This led to a heated argument between the kanwariyas and the occupants of the car.

During the argument, the occupants of the car came out and the woman in the car allegedly slapped one of the kanwariyas, which further agitated the pilgrims.

A large group of kanwariyas gathered at the spot and started smashing the car. The occupants of the car rushed into a metro station to save themselves. They have refused to give any complaint in writing.

“We have gathered all the facts in the case and after going through accounts of eyewitnesses and CCTV footage, the investigation report has been prepared. Taking cognisance of the situation, we have registered an FIR under IPC Section 427 (causing damage to property) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint),” said Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west).

He added that police teams are gathering mobile clips from various sources to identify the people who damaged the car.

Mr. Kumar said that the policemen seen in the video were trying to pacify the situation and waiting for reinforcement to come and control the situation.