BHOPAL: Nine men, most of them belonging to a family owning a tea shop have been arrested for allegedly attacking a police team on Saturday late night in Old Bhopal’s Qazi Camp area. The alleged attack happened on a three-member team headed by a sub-inspector at the Al-Madina tea stall in Qazi Camp area at around 11 pm.
In view of the rising COVID-19 cases, there is a complete Sunday lockdown every week – starting from 9 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Monday. The police team from the Hanumanganj police station had gone to the area to ensure the pursuance of the Sunday lockdown (which came into effect from 9 pm), but saw the tea shop opened.
“When our team entered the shop to get it closed, those present in the shop, including owner Zaheer attacked them. They first threw scalding tea on the cops and then attacked them with glasses and other utensils. After attacking the police team, the tea shop owners and staff downed the shutters and went to their house that is connected to the shop,” Hanumanganj police station in-charge Mahendra Singh Thakur told The New Indian Express.
“When our injured cops were standing outside the shop after calling for additional force, the members of the family, owning the shop, including female members pelted stones on them from the terrace of the house,” he added.
As many as 16 persons, including women, have been booked for the attack, out of which nine (all of men) have been arrested, Thakur informed.
According to the Hanumanganj police station in-charge, the tea shop owner Zaheer is accused in four cases in the past and he along with his kin were involved in an attack on a police sub-inspector three years ago. They had attacked another SI three months back as well.
Meanwhile, the female members of family alleged that around 40 cops entered their shop and house, vandalized property and attacked family members, including a nine-year-old girl and an elderly woman. The police denied the allegation, saying that injuries sustained by women were the result of stampede-like situations in the shop.