Chandigarh: Vendors going to buy fruits hit by iron rods, robbed; cops arrive 40 minutes late

CHANDIGARH: Two fruit vendors were attacked with iron rods and robbed less than 500 metre apart from each other in the early hours of Friday, prompting the police to register a case but struggling to make arrests amid allegations of responding at its own sweet time to calls for help.
A police control room (PCR) vehicle arrived a good 40 minutes after several calls had been made at helpline 112, said 40-year-old Poshaki Lal of Shastri Nagar, Manimajra, and 20-year-old Parmod Kumar of Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26, the two victims.

Lal said he was going to the temporary vegetable market in the Sector 17 bus stand on his rehri around 3.30am. As he reached near Panchayat Bhawan, Sector 18, two men on an Enfield Bullet motorcycle coming from the wrong side stopped him. “The pillion rider got down with an iron rod in his hand and started hitting me. He snatched Rs 20,600. Both sped away,” Lal alleged. Just a few metres ahead, the two attacked Kumar in Sector 19 on Madhya Marg and robbed him of Rs 10,000. The accused had their faces covered with a handkerchief.
A vegetable vendor coming behind Parmod saw him lying injured. He called relatives of Lal and Parmod. Both had fallen unconscious. As the news of the robbery spread, other vendors from Sector 17 reached the spot.
Ajit Yadav, a nephew of Lal, alleged he and other vendors called up 112 many a time but cops came 40 minutes late to Sector 18. Cops ever argued with vendors when they questioned their late arrival, sources said. Finally, police took the injured to Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16.
Lal received a fracture in his left arm, while Parmod’s legs and back were injured. Both were discharged at noon.