NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police constable had to fire four rounds on being manhandled by a group when he had gone to attend to a distress call by a septuagenarian couple in Rohini on Wednesday night. One of the rounds fired by the constable hit a woman in her foot. Senior police officers said a probe was under way.
According to the cops, a woman, Vandana, called constable Punit Sharma at 11.50pm on Wednesday about her elderly parents having a quarrel over the parking of vehicles with their neighbours who live on the first floor above them. The woman alleged that the neighbours had blocked the entry to her parents’ house.
When constable Sharma reached the house of the woman’s parents, 73-year-old Amar Bihari Saxena and his wife Manorama Saxena, 70, residents of Sector -16, Rohini, he saw the residents of the first floor had also roped in their relatives, who live in the same area. When the constable tried to intervene in the argument between the elderly couple and the firstfloor residents, the relatives of the latter threatened him.
Pramod Mishra, DCP (Rohini), claimed that despite several requests for peace by Sharma, the group started arguing heatedly with him and then began manhandling him. “Some of them tried to snatch his mobile phone, keys of his personal car and even his service pistol. Alarmed at this, the constable fired four rounds into the ground,” Mishra said.
One of the bullets ricocheted after hitting the ground and hit a woman’s foot. She was among the residents of the first floor and was identified as 40-year-old Madhu. “She was immediately shifted to BSA Hospital for treatment and her condition is fine," Mishra said.
The DCP added that the police constable somehow managed to escape and reported to the KN Katju police station. A case has been registered against the group for trying to obstruct a public servant from discharging his official duty. The incident is being probed. “We are verifying everyone's role and recording statements of the witnesses,” an officer said.