In a scene straight out of a James Hadley Chase thriller, a Delhi Traffic Police constable was abducted by a trucker suspected to be part of the sand mafia when he signalled the vehicle to stop for checking at Mandir Marg late on Wednesday night. At least ten Police Control Room vans chased the truck for over five kilometres before they were able to bring the truck to a halt by shooting at its tyres and rescue their colleague.
The truck was carrying illegally extracted red sand from Haryana’s Mewat region and was going towards Karol Bagh in Central Delhi. The truck driver, identified as Mohammad Tarif, was arrested and booked for abduction and obstructing a public servant on duty.
Police said that they were also investigating the source of the sand with the help of the documents produced by the driver. The driver, Tarif, told The Pioneer that he was in this job for the last five years. “The truck belongs to my elder brother. I don’t know the source of the sand but I was asked to deliver it to the given address in Karol Bagh,” he said.
The drama began at 11.15 pm on Wednesday when a traffic constable named Dinesh, posted at the check-post near Shankar Road roundabout, signaled a truck coming from Gurgaon. “The accused driver Mohammad Tarif stopped the vehicle but refused to show the papers. The constable asked him to get off the truck but he refused to open the door. Then Dinesh climbed up to the door from the helper’s side but before he cpould get a foothold, the driver pressed the accelerator and fled,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, PCR, RK Singh.
Singh added that the helper caught hold of the constable’s hand, leaving the constable hanging on to the window with one hand while the driver continued to drive the truck.
The other traffic policemen deployed at the check-post immediately alerted the PCR van parked nearby and a message was also flashed on the police’s wireless sets. Other PCR vehicles also started chasing the truck after they heard the message. At least 10 PCR vans joined the chase and they finally managed to intercept the truck after covering two kilometers at the roundabout near the Hanuman Mandir in Karol Bagh.
“The chasing operation went for around 15 minutes through Panchkuiyan Road and Mandir Marg, covering a distance of over five kilometers. Head Constable Kishan posted with a PCR van (MPV-V-53) near Kalibari Marg-U-turn fired a shot to deflate the tyre of the truck,” said Singh. Truck stopped only after that and before the driver could escape, he was overpowered by the PCR staff.
“The helper ran away but the driver was caught. Constable Dinesh is safe,” said the officer. A case under Sections 186, 353 and 365 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Mandir Marg Police Station and a manhunt has been launched to nab the helper”, the DCP added.