Ghaziabad: Kanwariyas vandalise car after it hits pilgrim, police book driver
The incident occurred around 2.30pm on Saturday when a Honda City, allegedly hit one of the kanwariyas walking on the Meerut-Ghaziabad carriageway
Ghaziabad: Dozens of agitated kanwariyas on Saturday afternoon resorted to violence and allegedly beat up a Honda City car driver along with badly damaging his car with rods and sticks on the Delhi Meerut Road in Ghaziabad, officers said, adding that police intervened and booked the car driver for allegedly entering the lane reserved for kanwariyas or, the kanwar yatra pilgrims.
The incident occurred around 2.30pm on Saturday when a Honda City, driven by 36-year-old Nowar Chaudhary, a Ukhlarsi city resident, allegedly hit one of the kanwariyas walking on the Meerut-Ghaziabad carriageway of the Delhi Meerut Road, they said.
“After this, agitated Kanwariyas badly damaged the car and also protested for action against the erring car driver. We arrested the car driver and pacified the kanwariyas. The car had entered the lane reserved for kanwariyas. We have also booked the erring car driver for rash and negligent driving. We suspect that he was drunk,” said Naresh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Masuri/Muradnagar circle.
A video of the incident also went viral over the social media. It shows many of the kanwariyas atop the car and damaging it with sticks, rods and baseball bats while hundreds of others look on.
HT could not verify the authenticity of the video.
Officers, however, did not take any action against the erring kanwariyas who allegedly resorted to vandalism. Police teams did not notice and made efforts to stop the car which allegedly entered the lane reserved for kanwariyas.
“The car entered the lane reserved for Kanwariyas coming from Modinagar and hit one of the Kanwariyas in Muradnagar (10 km away from Modinagar). We cannot say whether the car was noticed by officials on duty. We are trying to identify the kanwariyas who resorted to vandalism and badly damaged the car,” the ACP added.
When HT questioned what action was taken against the kanwariyas, the ACP said : “We are trying to identify them through videos and photographs.”
Meanwhile, Mukesh Solanki, station house officer, Muradnagar, shared that there was a group of kanwariyas going to Delhi, and the car just touched them and no injury took place. The kanwariyas later went ahead towards Delhi.
On July 25, a group of kanwariyas severely beat up 30-year-old worker Pravesh Kumar who stopped them from sitting on a fence that he was erecting near the canal area on Delhi Meerut Road in Muradnagar.
Police said that injured Kumar was a contractual worker roped in by the irrigation department to erect fences at the canal to prevent any mishappening during the Kanwar season.