Noida: Cops attacked with stones as stir on worker’s death turns violent, 27 held

GREATER NOIDA: Scores of labourers went on the rampage at an ATS construction site in Greater Noida (west) on Tuesday after one of their compatriots died of electrocution late on Monday evening.
The protesting workers also allegedly threw stones at cops, damaged a PCR van and torched a patrol bike after a police team used force to disperse them. Twenty-seven workers were arrested, police said on Wednesday.
The worker who died was identified as Tarun Basu, who was from West Bengal’s Malda district. Other workers began protesting to demand compensation for Basu’s family.
“During the incident, one PCR van was damaged. Its windows were broken and a police bike was also damaged,” a police officer said. The violence stopped after the cops called for reinforcements. Police said following an autopsy, Tarun’s family members had taken the body. After receiving compensation from the developer on Tuesday, the family had left for West Bengal, police sources said.
DCP (central Noida) Harish Chander said 60-70 labourers, 12 of whom have been named, were booked in FIRs filed at Ecotech III police station.
Geetambar Anand, chairman and managing director of the ATS Group, told TOI that a group of labourers from Malda indulged in protests at the site as they were led by a contractor with vested interests. “The family of the deceased was compensated as per the law, but the labourers led by the contractor had some vested interests due to which they resorted to protests and did not let other labourers work either. When the police were called, they resorted to stone-pelting at the cops,” he said.
Two FIRs have been filed against the workers – one under sections 147 (rioting) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the IPC on a complaint from the builder and another under sections 188 (disobedience of order promulgated by public servant), 269 and 270 (negligent act likely to spread infection), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge duties), 427 and 336 (rash or negligent act endangering human life or personal safety of others), section 3 of the Public Property Act and sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act.