Chased by 'power thieves' in Delhi, engineer dies in car crash

NEW DELHI: A BSES engineer was killed and four of his colleagues were injured when their car crashed into a tree while trying to escape from a mob armed with rods and hockey sticks at Jhuljhuli village, near Najafgarh in southwest Delhi, on Monday.
The BSES team had gone to the village to inspect complaints of power theft. The team, led by Abhimanyu Singh, had videographed visible instances of power theft, which angered the villagers.
Soon, a mob gathered, some of them armed with rods and hockey sticks, and asked the discom officials to hand over their cameras. With the threat of violence looming , a police force accompanying the 15-member team asked the engineers to go back.
They kept the villagers at bay to allow the team safe passage, but a few locals chased the BSES vehicles on bikes. One of the bikers came up alongside a BSES car and threatened to thrash the driver if he did not stop. The driver, Wasim, 22, panicked and swerved off the road. “He lost control of the vehicle. It overturned and hit a tree,” said a BSES official.
Singh, 28, was killed on the spot while the others, including Wasim, were critically injured. The men following the car fled after the crash. The police team rushed the officials to a hospital. While Singh was declared dead on arrival, the others were later shifted to DDU Hospital where they are stated to be critical.
“We have registered a case of causing death due to negligence under section 304A of the IPC and are probing the sequence of events as mentioned by the BSES officials. Further action will be taken accordingly,” said Surender Kumar, DCP, south-west.
2nd attack on discom staff in 3 weeks
BSES officials said Singh was a resident of Bihar and lived in Subhash Place. He was to get married next month. This was the second attack on discom officials within three weeks, they said. The incident was reported around 12.30pm, when a team from the BSES enforcement wing had gone to Jhuljhuli village for inspection. DCP Kumar said a police team of 26 personnel from the local police station accompanied the engineers and had controlled the crowd that had gathered to protest against the raid.

“It is common for us to face protests when we conduct raids against power theft in this area. At the Jhuljhuli village, a group of youths on bikes had surrounded us and threatened to thrash us if we did not leave,” said a BSES official who visited the village.
He said the youths seemed unaffected by the police presence. Some of them carried hockey sticks and rods. Asked by cops to return, Singh and colleagues Bhim Singh, 27, Yogender, 25, and Saurakh, 24, boarded their car and started driving away.
However, the youths blocked their way and asked them to hand over their camera. When the officials refused they threatened to damage their car. “The police team present managed to drive them away, but some of them followed us on their bikes,” one of the officials said.