NOIDA: Five people have been arrested and some 100 others booked for allegedly assaulting Noida Authority officials during an anti-encroachment drive on the Hindon floodplains in the Phase 3 area on Thursday, police said on Friday.
The arrestees are Jayveer Yadav, Krishna Kumar Yadav, Vikas Yadav, Kaushelendra Yadav and Ankit Yadav, all residents of Bahlolpur village near Sector 63 Noida.
“The Authority officials were removing illegal occupation from government land on the Hindon floodplains when some locals opposed the work. Initially, they were abusing the officials and later got involved in a clash with them and police personnel as well,” DCP (central Noida) Harish Chandar said.
Following a complaint from a junior engineer of the Noida Authority, a case was registered at the local police station against the five accused and around a 100 unknown miscreants.
All have been booked under sections 147, 148 (both related to rioting), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 353 (assault on government servant), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 447 (criminal trespass) of the IPC.
“The five were arrested from the spot. Those who have been arrested were the main people behind the clash while we are looking at videos of the incident and will take help of technical and manual surveillance to nab the other accused at the earliest,” Chandar stated.
Further investigation in the case is underway, officials said.
Last month, opposition to an anti-encroachment drive in Salarpur village came dangerously close to violence after some locals allegedly threatened to throw acid on Noida Authority officials while others protested.
Noida Authority officials, accompanied by the police and a bulldozer, had to suspend the drive and retreat after four hours when some threatened to pour acid on themselves. However, no one was injured.
A complaint was subsequently filed against three residents for allegedly obstructing government work and for illegal encroachments under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
