NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Tuesday submitted a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the brawl between policemen and tempo driver Sarbjeet Singh and his subsequent thrashing on Sunday evening. It is a “factual report” that has been submitted by Delhi Commissioner of Police (CP) Amulya Patnaik to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, officials said.
An argument between a tempo driver and Delhi Police personnel took an ugly turn after videos showing incident went viral. In the videos, the cops are seen brutally thrashing the man who threatened them with a sword on a busy street in Mukherjee Nagar. The incident snowballed into a major political row prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek response from the state police.
“With regard to #MukherjeeNagar incident, two cross FIRs have been registered on the statement of Police Personnel on duty and Grameen Seva driver. Both the FIRs have been transferred to Crime Branch for independent investigation,” Delhi police tweeted.One of the FIR is registered by the tempo driver and the other by the police personnel who received a 7-cm gash on his head due to the sword.
Meanwhile, a probe revealed that the tempo driver Sarbjeet Singh was involved in another case of assault two months back, following which he was taken into arrest and later released on bail.Gurdwara Bangla Sahib here had lodged an FIR against Sikh Gramin Sewa driver Sarbjeet Singh at Parliament Street Police Station for “thrashing” a sevadar over a petty issue at the temple on April 3, Delhi Police Spokesperson and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Madhur Verma said.
Sevadar Mangal Singh’s arm was fractured and he was admitted to RML hospital for treatment. “A case was registered against Sarbjeet under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” Verma said, adding that Sarbjeet was arrested after the incident and was later released on bail.
The complainant had told police that he inquired from Sarbjeet and his son about their presence at the Gurdwara at night, when “got angry”. “Later we took him to the manager. His son tried to exit. When I held him by his arm to hamper him from going away, he (Sarbjeet) started beating me,” he had said.
BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on Tuesday tweeted, “Three FIRs have been filed against Sarabjeet. One of the cases, he fractured the arm of a Sevadar at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. Please stop giving communal angle to everything and stand up for the truth.”
The Morning Standard, however, was not able to verify his allegations.