Gurugram: A day after a mob of around 40 people forcibly entered Mohd Sajjid’s house in Dhumaspur village in Gurugram, the police have arrested one person and said the case is being given the utmost priority.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Gurugram, Himanshu Garg, said the investigation would soon be completed. The arrested person was identified as Mahesh, a resident of Naya Gaon in Gurugram. More arrests are expected as police teams are conducting raids in several places, Garg added.
Explaining the sequence of events from Thursday to News18, Garg said preliminary inquiry showed that both sides were involved in the fight.
“An altercation took place between two groups. The police rushed to the spot and recorded the statements of the victims. A case has been registered and an investigation is on,” he said.
According to the police, a few youngsters were playing cricket when the ball hit a person. This led to a verbal altercation and was followed by one group thrashing the other, he said.
But 20-year-old Dilshad, Sajjid’s nephew, claimed two bike-borne men had passed by the ground and asked them to go to Pakistan and play.
When Sajjid approached the ground, the men pushed him back and slapped him, claimed Dilshad. The men allegedly also warned them of “dire consequences”.
Ten minutes after Dilshad and his relatives returned home, the men entered their house with several others. They were reportedly armed with swords and sticks. The women, on the first floor of the house, were asked not to come downstairs – a few of them recorded the incident on their mobile phones. The women were allegedly molested.
Sajjid’s wife claimed the attackers also stole a chain, a pair of earrings, and Rs 25,000 in cash.
“Even after two days, the family is afraid of the incident. We are apprehensive of the accused coming back and threatening us again. My children have been asking us to move away from this place,” said Sajjid, who earns a living by repairing gas cylinders and doing furniture work.
Dilshad claimed one of his cousins had asked their neighbours for Holi colour, so he could apply it to his face and escape. “He was thrown from the terrace by the mob,” alleged Dilshad, adding the cousin had fractured a leg. Dilshad fractured his hand in the melee as well.
The family claimed the police had reached the house an hour after a call was made, with the neighbours refusing to help as well. “We will not get justice unless all the accused are arrested by the police,” said Dilshad.
DCP Garg refuted the allegations. “The team reached the spot the moment they got a call but if the victims are alleging that the police reached late, we will look into the lapses,” he said.
Urging the family to not feel scared, Garg said the police were in constant touch with them. A team of five policemen has been stationed outside the house. Garg also appealed to the general public to not give a communal angle to the incident.