3 min readNew DelhiDec 1, 2011 02:33 AM IST
First published on: Dec 1, 2011 at 02:33 AM IST
An elderly man,who was returning from his daughter’s engagement ceremony,had a miraculous escape on Wednesday afternoon after he was shot at in Vasant Kunj,South Delhi. The accused,Arun Kumar Pandey (49) who claims to be a correspondent with a news portal,was arrested immediately after the incident,and is being questioned.
Police said the road rage incident occurred around 2.30 pm on Wednesday,when the victim’s car scraped against that of Pandey at a traffic junction near St Mary’s Church in Vasant Kunj. “Jagbir Singh Malik was returning to his house in Sector-17,Gurgaon,after attending his daughter’s engagement ceremony in Kishengarh. The car,in which the family was travelling,accidentally scraped against Pandey’s i10 car on Church road,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma.
“Malik and Pandey had a heated argument,and the latter took out his .32-bore licensed pistol and fired in the air. When this failed to scare Malik,he fired at him,aiming at his waist. But the metal buckle on Malik’s belt deflected the bullet,” another police officer said.
Judging by the number of bullets recovered,Pandey had fired six rounds in all,he added.
A PCR van,which was stationed near the church,heard the gunshot and rushed to the scene. Pandey tried to flee,but in vain,police said.
“Pandey was arrested soon after the incident. A case of attempted murder has been registered under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code at Vasant Kunj (South) police station. Malik has been sent for a medical examination,” the officer said.
Witnesses told Newsline that they heard a loud sound “between 2.30 pm and 3 pm”,and then saw a series of police cars zip past.
Arvind,a mat-vendor who has a makeshift shop under a tree at the crossing,said the two cars had a “small” accident.
“It wasn’t as if they had crashed into each other,but both of them got out screaming. I saw one of them shooting the other. I heard shouts of ‘murder murder’,and I really thought somebody had died. Later,a constable told me the man was saved by his belt. Till the evening,police cars kept coming and going continuously… there was a traffic jam because of them,” Arvind said.
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