The crew members of a Hindi news channel had providential escape when armed robbers fired at them while they were driving past Barapullah flyover on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The crew, including a reporter, cameraperson and a driver of ABP News, were on their way to cover a story when their vehicle was followed by robbers who were riding a black pulsar.
Reporter Siddharth Purohit was heading towards Prasad Nagar police station with his team- cameraman Arvind Kumar and driver Chander Sen - when they came under attack at Barapullah flyover.
According to Purohit, two men riding on a black Pulsar opened fire when they refused to stop by the road while they were on their way to cover a story.
“The man riding the bike pointed gun at us and asked to stop the car. When we didn’t stopped the bikers opened fire in our direction. The attackers were not wearing any helmets, the attacker was driving the vehicle from one hand and was firing from another hand. The first shot hit the car door, second hit the window and the third missed,” he said.
“That third bullet could have entered the car and could have hit one of us. But, we were saved,” said Purohit adding that both he and his cameraman ducked in the car to avoid the bullets.
“The driver also ducked but kept on driving. For half a kilometre they chased us, their intentions were clear. There was no police for half a kilometre or so,” said Purohit.
Purohit also said that since their vehicle was a cab, the assailants possibly knew that their speed would be limited to 80 kmph in that area.
The crew members alleged that Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) came very late. “The firing incident took place around 1:30 am. I called the Police Control Room (PCR) around 1.33 am and a patrol car came around 3:05-3:10 am,” said Purohit, who nearly escaped the gunshots.
However, Delhi Police put its response on its official twitter handle “In the @abpnewshindi incident on Barapulla flyover, case has been registered immediately and several teams have been constituted to work on it. Three policemen on picket duty have been suspended for lack of prompt response. Investigation has been transferred to Crime Branch. Senior police officers are closely supervising the case”.
When asked about the incident,a senior police official said that they have drawn sketches of the assailants and CCTV footage from the adjoining areas is being scanned to identify the criminals.