Group of delivery boys ransack south Delhi restaurant

A group of delivery boys ransacked a south Delhi restaurant after they suspected its owner of having a hand in the police action against them for improperly parking their motorcycles on the roadside, police said.

Rohit Kubba, the owner of the Dilli 19 restaurant in Kalkaji, alleged that he had to use the fire exit of the restaurant to save over two dozen customers, including women and children, who were dining at the time of the attack. Police said one of the customers was injured in the attack, but was out of danger.

Kubba alleged that there were between 50 to 80 delivery boys who coordinated among themselves on a WhatsApp group before arriving on motorcycles around 11.30 pm on Saturday. According to Kubba, the vandals work for a popular firm that arranges for food delivery, but police said they were yet to corroborate the restaurant owner’s claim.

“We have registered a case under Indian Penal Code sections 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting with deadly weapons). We have picked up one suspect for questioning and are analysing the CCTV footage to identify the others,” said Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east).

Kubba said his restaurant is also into home deliveries and Saturday evening was a busy time. “Six-seven delivery boys were at the restaurant for collecting food around 7 pm. They had parked their motorcycles on the roadside, leading to quarrel among themselves and a traffic jam,” said Kubba.

The DCP said that the area’s beat policeman, a head constable, decided to clear the jam and asked the delivery boys to remove their motorcycles. “The delivery boys suspected that Kubba had alerted the policeman. So, they coordinated among themselves, formed a group and landed outside the restaurant around 11.30 pm,” said the DCP.

Kubba alleged that the group broke a laptop, the billing machine, ransacked the drawers and hurled chairs. “None of us could understand what was happening. I decided to save the women and children first and got them to escape through the fire exit at the back of the restaurant. But they attacked a few guests and left one man injured,” said Kubba.

The attack was captured on CCTV cameras inside the restaurant as well as those installed outside it.

Kubba claimed that later he took a delivery boy into confidence and checked his WhatsApp group to learn how they had coordinated before attacking. He has submitted a copy of those conversations to the police as evidence.