NEW DELHI, June 28 -- Barely a month after the Delhi Police promised to invoke harsher charges to curb road rage cases following an attack on three Saket Court judges, a lawyer became a victim of a similar incident on Tuesday afternoon in Rohini.
Abhimanyu Kumar Singla, 28, a Supreme Court lawyer, was thrashed in front of his wife before being robbed of his wallet allegedly by two bike-borne assailants in outer Delhi's Rohini, sector 8.
The incident, suspected to be one of road rage, took place at around 2 pm outside the RG shopping complex, when Singla and wife were about to leave for their Rohini sector 9 residence.
While one of the attackers, Deepak, was overpowered and handed over to police by some eyewitnesses, the other one managed to escape.
He took with him Singlas' wallet, which contained R5,000 in cash, his identity card and driving licence.
Despite this and Singla medical report, his family members alleged that the Rohini North police tried their best to keep the matter under wraps.
"Initially, they were reluctant to register a case and made several attempts to persuade us to reach a compromise. It was only after the interference of some lawyers that they agreed to register an FIR. Though the incident attracted section 392 (robbery), they added section 379 (theft) in the FIR," said Arun Kumar Singla, father of the victim, who is a lawyer of Delhi High Court.
A senior police officer, however, refuted the allegations. "The case has been registered under the appropriate sections of IPC and we are looking for the absconding accused," he said.
Recounting the incident, Singla told HT that they were about to leave the place after buying a mobile phone, when two men riding an Enfield Bullet hit his car from the front.
"Though the fault wasn't mine, I apologised. But they forcibly pulled me out of the car and punched me several times on my face and head with a brass knuckle. Due to the repeated blows, I collapsed on the road, after which one of them fled with my wallet. Hearing my wife scream for help, some onlookers caught the other miscreant," said Singla.
Singla was taken to Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment.
Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.