NEW DELHI: A hail of bullets on the elevated Barapullah flyway wasn’t the only trauma in store for this news crew of a TV channel late into the night.
Having managed to give their attackers a slip, reporter Siddharth Purohit, cameraperson Arvind Kumar and driver Chander Sen spotted a police picket near INA Metro station. “We narrated the incident to the three policemen there. They listened to us, clicked photographs of our car and then started packing up,” Purohit claimed, adding that instead of acting fast, the cops were more interested in knowing why their vehicle didn’t have a press sticker.
Kumar said he requested the policemen to come with them and look for the men who had attacked them, but the cops kept talking among themselves. “They were talking about which police station had jurisdiction in the case. After that, they left us on the spot, asking us to wait for the PCR team to arrive, We managed to get an FIR registered only in the evening,” Purohit added. A senior police officer said they were conducting an inquiry into the incident.
Recalling their close shave, Sen said: “I did not let go of the accelerator till we saw the cops.” The bullets fired by the assailants narrowly missed the 44-year-old driver and the other two people in the vehicle. Purohit, Kumar and Sen were on their way to cover a murder case near Karol Bagh. They left their Noida office in a white Tata Zest, their company’s vehicle around 1am.
Sen told TOI that he saw one of the men on the bike signalling him to stop when their car was at the flyway parallel to Soochna Bhawan. “I hadn’t noticed that he had a gun and thought the men had lost their way and were asking for directions. However, Purohit, who was seated behind me, shouted that the man had a gun,” Sen said.
Kumar, seated next to Sen, urged him not to stop. As Sen stepped on the gas, the man opened fire. The first bullet shattered the car window. “I didn’t panic and told the driver not to stop the car. I realised that the men were robbers. The man riding the bike was the one who was shooting,” Kumar, who has been working as a cameraperson for 10 years, said.
As two more bullets hit the car, Kumar and Purohit lay on the floor while Sen continued to accelerate. “So many things came to my mind as we stayed down. I was thinking if the next bullet would hit me or Sen. I have been in Delhi for a year and never thought that I would become the subject of a story,” Purohit said. Nearly 20 seconds after the first shot was fired, Purohit tried to phone the police, but the call dropped.
“I got up as the car reached Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and saw that the bike had stopped following us. The incident made me wonder if this city was not safe for anyone at night,” Kumar said.
In Video:Delhi: Bikers fire at news channel crew in national capital
Having managed to give their attackers a slip, reporter Siddharth Purohit, cameraperson Arvind Kumar and driver Chander Sen spotted a police picket near INA Metro station. “We narrated the incident to the three policemen there. They listened to us, clicked photographs of our car and then started packing up,” Purohit claimed, adding that instead of acting fast, the cops were more interested in knowing why their vehicle didn’t have a press sticker.
Kumar said he requested the policemen to come with them and look for the men who had attacked them, but the cops kept talking among themselves. “They were talking about which police station had jurisdiction in the case. After that, they left us on the spot, asking us to wait for the PCR team to arrive, We managed to get an FIR registered only in the evening,” Purohit added. A senior police officer said they were conducting an inquiry into the incident.
Recalling their close shave, Sen said: “I did not let go of the accelerator till we saw the cops.” The bullets fired by the assailants narrowly missed the 44-year-old driver and the other two people in the vehicle. Purohit, Kumar and Sen were on their way to cover a murder case near Karol Bagh. They left their Noida office in a white Tata Zest, their company’s vehicle around 1am.
Sen told TOI that he saw one of the men on the bike signalling him to stop when their car was at the flyway parallel to Soochna Bhawan. “I hadn’t noticed that he had a gun and thought the men had lost their way and were asking for directions. However, Purohit, who was seated behind me, shouted that the man had a gun,” Sen said.
Kumar, seated next to Sen, urged him not to stop. As Sen stepped on the gas, the man opened fire. The first bullet shattered the car window. “I didn’t panic and told the driver not to stop the car. I realised that the men were robbers. The man riding the bike was the one who was shooting,” Kumar, who has been working as a cameraperson for 10 years, said.
As two more bullets hit the car, Kumar and Purohit lay on the floor while Sen continued to accelerate. “So many things came to my mind as we stayed down. I was thinking if the next bullet would hit me or Sen. I have been in Delhi for a year and never thought that I would become the subject of a story,” Purohit said. Nearly 20 seconds after the first shot was fired, Purohit tried to phone the police, but the call dropped.
“I got up as the car reached Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and saw that the bike had stopped following us. The incident made me wonder if this city was not safe for anyone at night,” Kumar said.
In Video:Delhi: Bikers fire at news channel crew in national capital
Quick Links
Lok Sabha Election Schedule 2019Lok Sabha Election NewsDelhi Capitals teamMI team 2019Rajasthan Royals 2019RCB team 2019Maharashtra Lok Sabha ConstituenciesBJP Candidate ListBJP List 2019 TamilnaduShiv Sena List 2019AP BJP List 2019Mamata BanerjeeBJP List 2019 MaharashtraPriyanka GandhiBJP List 2019 KarnatakaAMMK Candidate List 2019BJP List 2019 WBLok Sabha Elections in Tamil NaduBSP List 2019 UPNews in TamilLok Sabha Poll 2019Satta Matka 2018PM ModiMahagathbandhanNagpur BJP Candidate ListChandrababu NaiduTamil Nadu ElectionsUrmila MatondkarNews in TeluguMadras High CourtTejashwi YadavArvind KejriwalTejasvi SuryaPawan KalyanArvind KejriwalYogi AdityanathJaya PradaSatta King 2019Srinagar encounter
Get the app