Greater Noida: In the last six months, three police stations have been set up in the fast growing residential hub in Greater Noida West to ensure security of people. Despite that, there was a feeling of exasperation among the residents as they searched for a 40-year-old resident who was missing.
They helplessly went from one police station to the other seeking help to trace the missing resident. Later, to their dismay, they themselves found the body of the man lying along the service road near NCR stadium along the Hindon river on Monday night.
The deceased was identified as Gaurav Chandel who was a resident of I Block in 5th Avenue of Gaur City-I. He was living in the society for last three years with his family. Chandel was working with a private company based in Gurugram. He used to travel to work from home daily in his newly bought Kia Seltos car.
Chandel’s family belongs to Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, said his sister Salini Chandel, who lives in Mumbai. Raising alarm on Twitter, Salini Chandel tweeted, “My brother is missing from Jan 6. We received last call from him when he was at Parthala Chowk in Noida Extension. Please help.”
According to the police, he was allegedly robbed and murdered by some unidentified persons. The residents expressed anger over inaction of local area police, alleging that instead of helping them, police kept passing buck on adjoining police stations, leaving them at their own.
One of the residents who was among those who rescued the body told CitySpidey that the body had multiple injury marks all over his face and chest and it seemed like someone has stabbed him with blunt and heavy object.
Later in the day, scores of residents from many other societies along with victim’s relatives surrounded the Bisrakh police station, alleging laxity from police into the matter. The residents also filed a written complaint against cops for ineffective policing and and have sought action against them.
The residents alleged that the cops of Bisrakh police station kept on passing the buck to nearby police stations citing that the area where incident has occurred do not fall in their jurisdiction. They also blamed cops for the death of Chandel saying that the victim could have been saved in time if Bisrakh police had collaborated with Phase 3 police to search him.
“When we went to a Cleo county police post near Parthla Chowk and reported the matter to them, the cops present there said that Gaurav’s last location was recorded near Roza Jalalpur village and instead of helping they asked us to report the matter to Gaur City police post. We rushed there and a senior cop present there passed the buck to Bisrakh police station. None of the cops tried to look for my husband. We were left with nothing but to get on streets in night to search for Gaurav on our own” said Priti Chandel, deceased’s wife.
The residents also blamed police for no patrolling at night even after similar incidents of robberies are reported at the stretch in past too. They also alleged that despite repeated complaints, streetlights were not installed at the road making it unsafe in night. A senior police officer said that the Hindon bridge that connects Noida and Greater Noida remains unsafe because of lack of clarity over the jurisdiction of police station.
Vaibhav Krishna, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar, said, “We have registered an FIR under section 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC against unidentified accused. Teams have been formed to work out the case and we expect arrests soon. As of now we are not clear if the crime has been committed during a robbery but investigations are underway and we will make a breakthrough soon.”
