Delhi cops stunned with chilly powder attack
Youth escaped from the scene, later some were detained.
New Delhi: Two patrolling policemen were subjected to an unpleasant chilly powder attack in Southwest Delhi’s Bindapur area early on Monday morning. Two youth, whom they stopped for questioning also attacked one of them with a brick and later absconded. To counter the attack and control the situation the policeman opened fire in the air to deter the attackers, but that did not stop them from escaping. Later, however, one of them and some of their friends who joined later, were detained. The entire incident was captured on a CCTV camera, which helped police zero in on the suspects. They are suspected to be miscreants or thieves since they were equipped with chilly powder. Deputy commissioner of police (Southwest) Surender Kumar said around 4 am constable Pawan and homeguard Lakshminarayan spotted a two men walking around in an area where several thefts and burglaries have been reported recently. “The policemen halted their patrolling bike and siganalled the group, which had four to five men, to come to them. As the constable was talking to the youth, he noticed that there were more persons coming towards them. He immediately made them sit down on the road and asked them what they were doing out on the streets at that hour,” said Mr Kumar, adding that, the constable was making a phonecall to ask for reinforcements at that time. “This is when one of the boys flung chilly powder into his eyes. This caused a burning sensation and a brief loss of sight due to which he panicked. Realising that they could use this as an opportunity to attack them, he fired two rounds in the air,” he said. The firing did not injure anyone. The homeguard, who was a few steps behind, was in the meanwhile attacked with a brick, which grazed past him,” said the DCP.
Before the two policemen had time to react to the unexpected attack, the youth had fled from the area. Later, an intensive manhunt was launched by the police and around 4-5 youth have been arrested. A case of assault and preventing a government servant from discharging duty has been registered. “All of the accused are under questioning. We are verifying their past records and checking if they have any criminal history,” said the DCP.