Kanwaria rampage: Police pick up nine, all from the capital

According to police, a team of 25 officers from the Delhi Police Special Staff had their task cut out.

Kanwarias in Delhi. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna) It took more than 25 minutes for a dozen-odd kanwarias armed with baseball bats to overturn a Santro car, assault one of the occupants and bring traffic to a standstill — as three Police Control Room (PCR) officers tried to reason with them. But with their efforts in vain, and police realising the situation could escalate, Moti Nagar police station, barely 100 metres away, rushed five more officers to the spot — without riot gear. By the time they reached, the group, which had gone on a rampage after the Santro allegedly brushed past one of them, had disappeared. A day later, the men seem to be in the wind — and police at a loss for answers. While an FIR has been registered, it is only against "unknown persons". This, despite the incident being caught on video. According to an officer, the fact that thousands of kanwarias took the route on Tuesday has made it difficult for police to narrow down the group. For now, police said they are contacting rest shelters along the route for information about the accused. An officer said they are looking at the CCTV footage to pull out photographs that can be used to identify the men. “Of course it will be difficult to ascertain their identity. But we are confident of tracing them,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Singh. “During inquiry conducted by an ACP-rank officer, it came to the notice that one of the kanwarias was slapped by the woman, which further agitated them.” In fact, the kanwarias were not supposed to be on this stretch in the first place. But with the dedicated corridor meant for their movement waterlogged, the men took an alternative route, police said. “We had made a special corridor for them to pass through. But due to heavy rain, the makeshift route had been filled with water and they were forced to walk on the main road,” Singh said. On Wednesday, barricades had come up to ensure kanwarias had a dedicated path. Eyewitnesses have claimed that it took police over 20 minutes to send back-up to help the three PCR staffers who first reached the spot, though police maintain it was about 10 minutes. "The kanwarias started smashing the windows of the car with their bare hands. Some of them had blocked traffic by placing several pitchers, ostensibly filled with Ganga jal. They gathered within minutes, destroyed the car, and even took selfies as the two officers watched," claimed Abhishek Sharma, an eyewitness. Local police claimed they did not send men with riot gear as that could have escalated the situation. The occupants of the car — the woman who was driving and her friend who was roughed up — had opted not to file a complaint. This prompted police to register an FIR on their own — under IPC sections 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 34 (common intention). The woman behind the wheel, daughter of an Army officer, could not be contacted for a comment.

Kanwarias captured on video vandalising the car.

A week after a group of kanwarias were caught on camera vandalising an i10 car outside Moti Nagar Metro station, police have arrested five men and apprehended four juveniles in connection with the incident. Police had earlier arrested two men involved in the case.

According to police, a team of 25 officers from the Delhi Police Special Staff had their task cut out. “We had footage from several CCTVs and individual photographs of the accused were developed. But to catch them, we had to speak to more than a thousand people in west Delhi,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Vijay Singh.

On August 8, the men were caught on camera vandalising the vehicle and assaulting one of the occupants who, police alleged, accidentally grazed past the crowd of kanwarias and slapped one of them. The claims were made by the DCP, based on an inquiry by an ACP-rank officer.

Story continues below this ad

Police said the team spoke to officials at 11 rest shelters along the yatra route as well as temple priests for clues regarding the men, before finding registers containing thousands of names of every kanwaria who stopped at the shelters. The officers then spent a considerable part of the last week conducting door-to-door verification in Dwarka, Najafgarh and other parts of west Delhi.

Eventually, the police team managed to identify all the accused and picked them up from various parts of west Delhi. Of the nine accused, four are juveniles who have been detained, while the others have been arrested and produced before various local courts, police said.

Police said the five men have been identified as Aman Kumar, Jogesh, Sachin, Vishal and Jitender. While Jitender is a graduate and works as a stenographer, the others work in local stalls, or as electricians and painters.

Police had initially arrested one of the accused, Rahul, two days after the incident. Based on his statement, police ascertained that the accused were all residents of Delhi.

Story continues below this ad

Police narrowed down their search to Najafgarh, Dwarka and Bindapur after the special staff carried out a route analysis. Staff from various police stations in the west district worked in a night-long operation and managed to track down all the accused, police said.

“The main accused in the case, Aman, had claimed that ‘holy water’ he was carrying spilt when the car hit him. He has not said anything about anyone slapping him so far,” DCP Singh said.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram