News channel team fired upon by 2 bikers on flyover

■ Bullets hit car door, window in incident on Barapullah

◗ Reporter Siddharth Purohit was heading towards Prasad Nagar police station with his team when they came under attack at Barapullah flyover.

◗ The crew members alleged that the police came late

◗ According to Mr Purohit, two men riding on a black Pulsar opened fire when they refused to stop by the road while they were on their way to cover a story

◗ Investigation has been transferred to crime branch

The crew of a news channel was allegedly targeted by two bike borne assailants on the intervening night of SaturdaySunday on Barapullah flyover in South Delhi. The crew, including a reporter, cameraperson and a driver of a leading Hindi news channel, were on their way to cover a story when the incident occurred.

Reporter Siddharth Purohit was heading towards Prasad Nagar police station with his team - cameraman Arvind Kumar and driver Chander Sen - when they came under attack at Barapullah flyover.

The crew members of the channel alleged that an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) came very late. “The firing incident occurred around 1:30 am. I called the Police Control

Room (PCR) around 1:33 am and a patrol car came around 3:05-3:10 am,” said Mr Purohit, who nearly escaped the gunshots.

According to Mr Purohit, two men riding on a black Pulsar opened fire when they refused to stop by the road while they were on their way to cover a story.

“The man riding the bike pointed gun at us and asked to stop the car. When we didn’t stop the bikers opened fire in our direction. The attackers were not wearing any helmets,

the attacker was driving the vehicle from one hand and was firing from another hand. The first shot hit the car door, second hit the window and the third missed,” he said.

“That third bullet could have entered the car and could have hit one of us. But, we were saved,” said Mr Purohit adding that both he and his cameraman ducked in the car to avoid the bullets.

“The driver also ducked but kept on driving. For half a kilometre they chased us, their intentions were clear. There was no police for half a kilometre or so,” said Mr Purohit.

Mr Purohit also said that since their vehicle was a cab, the assailants possibly knew that their speed would be limited to 80 kmph in that area.

However, Delhi police official tweeted “In the @abpnewshindi incident on Barapulla flyover, case has been registered immediately and several teams have been constituted to work on it. Three policemen on picket duty have been suspended for lack of prompt response. Investigation has been transferred to Crime Branch. Senior police officers are closely supervising the case,”

“Police have drawn sketch of the assailants. They are also scanning CCTV cameras in the area to track them,” said Mr Purohit.