The police initiated action against the accused after looking at the CCTV footages at the Sector-29 park.
The Gautam Budh Nagar police have arrested the gunner and servant of the additional district magistrate (Muzzafarnagar) Harish Chandra, in connection with the attempt to murder case of retired colonel V S Chauhan from Sector-29 in Noida early on Sunday morning.
The police had formed teams to nab the ADM, his wife and other accused in the case. They initiated action against the accused after looking at the CCTV footages at the Sector-29 park. In the video, the ADM and his aides were seen assaulting the retired colonel.
According to the police, the ADM’s gunner Rahul Nagar (28) and his household help Jitendra Awasthi (26) were arrested following a tip off.
“We had received a tip off about the two accused. After which, a team was sent to Shaheed Smarak in Sector-29 and the two were arrested. We had taken all the necessary permissions before arresting official government-appointed gunner of the ADM,” said Manoj Pant, station house officer at Sector-20 in Noida.
The accused have been arrested under sections 307 (Attempt to murder), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 120 B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy), 147 (Punishment for rioting) and 448 (Punishment for house-trespass) of the Indian penal code.
“The ADM, his wife and other accused are absconding at the moment. However, we have formed teams to nab them,” said Pant.
On August 14, a 76-year-old retired Colonel, Virendra Pratap Singh Chauhan, was arrested on charges of molestation levelled by the ADM's wife on the day following a spat between the two sides over alleged illegal construction by the ADM's family.
A resident alleged that Chauhan had a dispute of illegal occupation and construction with ADM Harish Chandra (husband of the lady) over the last 3 years.
Chandra is his neighbour in Sector-29. He is currently the ADM in Muzaffarnagar. He was also an officer of Noida Authority in the past. Colonel Virender had lodged a complaint several times in Noida Authority regarding illegal occupation and construction but Noida Authority did not take any action on Chandra due to his clout.
"On August 14, the retired colonel was sitting in front of the park and was waiting for the cab to go to Agra. Chandra reached the park with his wife Usha. They were accompanied by Chandra’s security guards," said a resident.
Locals demand that the illegal construction done by Chandra should be demolished by the Authority and an income tax inquiry should also be put against him. Several Army veterans and the family of Chauhan had taken out a protest march in Sector-29 on Saturday demanding the immediate release of the retired colonel from jail and arrest of the accused ADM.
“We demand that Manish Saxena, station officer of Sector-20 police station and Anil Kumar, circle officer-1, should be dismissed from the duty because they did not check the CCTV footage before taking action,” said a resident.
After the arrest of retired colonel, the police said that the he reached the park in Sector-29 with three more persons and they molested the lady and also passed derogatory remarks about her caste.
Chauhan was also booked on charges under section 3 (1) of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for hurling caste-based abuses on the woman. On august 16, the footage of the closed-circuit television camera installed in the park emerged in which it was purportedly seen that Chauhan was being assaulted by the seven.
District Magistrate Brajesh Narayan Singh took note of the video and instructed the police to file an FIR against the ADM and others involved in the matter.
