Bus ferrying convicts attacked,2 held

No prisoners were in the bus at the time of the incident.

Eyewitnesses said as policemen disembarked from the bus and started beating the motorcyclist,his turban came off. He was identified as 24-year-old Gurdev Singh of Sector 35 who is employed with a dentist as a helper. Soon,eyewitnesses recalled,one Charanjit Singh of Sector 40-C,a Shiromani Akali Dal activist,reached the spot and intervened. The policemen reportedly manhandled him too. It was alleged that on seeing people assembling,the policemen sped away in the bus after snatching the keys of Gurdev’s motorcycle. After a while,when the police bus was passing through the same area on its way back,this time with prisoners,a group of men allegedly led by Gurdev and Charanjit,began pelting stones and attacked the bus.

Windowpanes of the bus were also broken following which the police called for additional force. Traffic came to a standstill at the roundabout leading to a jam. During the attack,all prisoners were shifted to another bus amid tight security.

The situation was brought under control after the accused were arrested. The police claimed the two were waiting for the bus so that they could attack it. The driver of the bus also sustained minor injuries in the attack.

Jaswinder Singh,SHO of the Sector-17 police station,said a case of rioting,wrongful restraint,assaulting a public servant and causing obstruction in his work and damaging property under Sections 147,149,332,341,353 and 427 of the IPC had been registered against Gurdev Singh and Charanjit Singh.

The driver of the police bus,Jasbir Singh,has been suspended and a regular departmental inquiry has been initiated against him,said DSP (Central) Jagbir Singh.

The incident also brought to the fore the lapse security measures by the police while ferrying prisoners to and fro the Burail jail to the district courts in Sector 17.