BHOPAL: Four minors have been booked in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal for vandalising several luxury cars and a bus and sharing videos of the incident on social media.
The boys, aged between 14 and 17 years, assembled for a night out party on Saturday at the house of one of them located near Moti Masjid in Bhopal. They went out for a joy ride early on next morning on Sunday in their friend's SUV. A pack of stray dogs chased their SUV in Shyamla Hills area where one of them hurled a stone at the dogs which hit a car and broke its window panel glass. The minors enjoyed it. They returned to their friend's home near Moti Masjid to leave the SUV and take their scooters. Riding two scooters, they then hurled stones on eight luxurious cars and SUVs parked in the posh Shyamla Hills and Koh-e-Fiza area. The minors also vandalised a luxury bus window glass with a stone. They specifically targeted high-end vehicles.
The minors recorded the incident on their smartphones. When the victim car and SUV owners turned up at Shyamla Hills and Koh-e-Fiza police station to lodge complaints, the cops simply registered three ‘non-cognizable reports’ (NCRs) at Shyamla Hills police station and two NCRs at Koh-e-Fiza police station instead of FIRs. The cops did not even report the matter to senior police officers.
The videos recorded by the accused minors on their smartphones went viral on social media platforms on Tuesday after they shared them with their friends. Taking cognizance of the videos, senior police officers swung into action. The minors were identified with the help of viral videos and detained by Shyamla Hills police. Being minors, they were sent for counselling.
DCP (zone-3) Riyaz Iqbal immediately suspended SHO Shyamla Hills police station LD Mishra and duty officer at Koh-e-Fiza police station SI VK Pandey and they were attached to police lines. Two separate FIRs were registered at Shyamla Hills and Koh-e-Fiza police station under relevant sections. Senior officers said that the minors illegally drove scooters flouting traffic rules for which their vehicles were seized.
Two minors are aged 14 years and both are students of class 8. One is aged 16 years and he is a student of class 9 while the eldest of them is 17-year-old and is a student of class 10. Two are brothers, one is their cousin and the fourth is their common friend.
One of the minor accused, present at Shyamla Hills police station, talking to TOI said that they decided to have a night out party on Saturday night at his house. Early in the morning on Sunday around 4.45am, they decided to go on a joy ride. He took his SUV and all of them went to the Shyamla Hills area near Ansal Apartments where a pack of street dogs chased their SUV. They hurled stones on the dog which hit a car and smashed its window glass. He said that they all liked it. As the fuel in their SUV was low, they left it at his home near Moti Masjid and they all left on their two scooters. They smashed window panels and windscreens of cars and SUVs parked in Professor Colony and then went on VIP Road.
The minor said that through VIP Road they went to Housing Board Colony in Koh-e-Fiza area where they smashed windscreens of parked SUVs and a luxury bus. The minor said that he does not remember how many vehicles they vandalised but there may be 8-9 cars and SUVs and a bus. He said that one of his friends recorded the incident over his smartphone. All the minors said that they just vandalised the vehicles for fun. Sitting at the police station after being caught they were regretting the incident.
Shyamla Hills police registered three NCRs in the matter on Sunday. The first case was registered on a complaint filed by Jitendra Baghel, a resident of Anchal Apartment in Professor Colony. He stated in his complaint that the unidentified accused vandalised his elder brother Dilip Singh Baghel's premium sports SUV parked in front of his house. The accused vandalised both the front and rear windshields of the SUV.
In the second complaint filed at Shyamla Hills police station, Naman Garg, a resident of Lakherapura, who runs a medical equipment business, told police that he parked his car in front of his uncle Amit Agrawal's house located at Sudarshan Apartment in Shyamla Hills on Saturday night. The next morning, he found that the rear windshield of his car was broken.
In the third case registered at Shyamla Hills police station, complainant Om Prakash Paliya, 36, a resident of Square Apartment in Professor Colony, told police that unidentified accused vandalised his car parked in front of his house.
Meanwhile, Koh-e-Fiza police registered two NCRs in the matter on Sunday. In the first case Dr Ramkumar Dhakad, 35, a resident of Shalimar Lake View Apartment in Koh-e-Fiza, is posted in Gandhi Medical College. He told police that he parked his SUV in front of his apartment on Saturday. The next morning around 11am, he spotted that the rear windscreen of his SUV was broken.
In the second NCR complainant Mazhar Qureshi, 45, a resident of Housing Board Colony in Koh-e-Fiza, told TOI that he lives in Mumbai and came to visit his parents. He parked his premium SUV in front of his house on Saturday midnight and went to sleep. The next morning around 8am, he found that the rear windscreen of his SUV was broken. He checked the footage of CCTV cameras fitted outside his house and spotted the two scooter-borne four minor boys committing the incident.
Meanwhile, the boys vandalised another premium SUV belonging to car broker Mujahid Ali, a resident of Koh-e-Fiza. Mujahid told TOI that his SUV was parked in front of KK Convent School in front of his house. He found on Sunday that the windscreen of his SUV was broken and stones were lying on seats.
DCP (Zone-3) Riyaz Iqbal said that it is a serious matter. As per the viral video, the scooter-borne four minor boys vandalised 7-8 vehicles and a bus and recorded videos on their smartphones. SHO Shyamla Hills and the day duty officer at Koh-e-Fiza SI VK Pandey have been suspended because they did not take the matter seriously and did not inform senior officers about the incidents.
