Patiala: Crossing VIP lane at toll plaza ends into fray; 21 booked for assaulting guard

PATIALA: The police in Patiala booked 21 persons including nine identified under various sections of IPC including assault and theft after the group of persons allegedly attacked the security guard at the toll plaza at Dharedi Jatta on Patiala-Rajpura road.
The fray between the Toll Plaza staff and the accused took place on Saturday after the accused entered the VIP lane but the guards on duty did not allow them to cross. The police said that five of the car occupants argued with the staff. The police added that four of the car occupants came out and forcibly removed the barricading from the VIP lane. Then they returned back to the toll plaza.
The case has been registered Bahadurgarh Police station. Sub inspector Manjit Singh SHO Bahadurgarh police station said, “The accused returned with around two dozen of accomplices and attacked the guard at the Toll Plaza who allegedly stopped them to cross from the VIP lane. The Toll plaza officials have released CCTV footage to us in which around five men who entered the VIP lane are identified and booked for committing mischief, theft in building, voluntary causing hurt, criminal intimidation, rioting armed with deadly weapons and other sections of Indian Penal Code. The Toll plaza staff also claimed that the accused after attacking them also looted Rs 60,000 from the manager’s room. We have got the video of attack on the guard however there is no video or CCTV footage rectifying the allegations of looting money. The investigation into the matter is underway and none of the accused has been arrested so far but the hunt is on to nab them”
Notably, the video of the accused attacking the guard at the Toll Plaza is circulating among the media and on the social media sites however the police claimed that the staff at the Toll Plaza did not attack any of the accused during the heated arguments to cross from the VIP lane.
The police have identified the accused as three brothers Ranjit Singh, Jatinderpal Singh and Satinderpal Singh of Bahadurgarh, Gurpreet Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Fateh, Rinka, and Thakur of Bahadurgarh, and Bharat of Chamarhadi village. Besides 12 unidentified accused are booked on the complaint of security guard Parminder Singh of Daun Kalan village.