23-year-old techie robbed, thrown off bridge in Dehradun, fractures spine

DEHRADUN: A 23-year-old software engineer working at a private firm in Dehradun's IT Park was allegedly abducted and robbed by two bike-borne men while waiting for a ride home after finishing his night shift.

Akash Kumar, a resident of the Kaonli Road area, was allegedly thrown off a bridge in Premnagar around 3 am on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. He suffered a spine fracture and remained writhing in pain for several hours before being rescued by personnel from a nearby Army camp on Friday morning after a passerby alerted them.

Dehradun police circle officer (city) Swapnil Muyal said that after completing his shift from 5 pm to 2 am, Akash was dropped at Prince Chowk by a colleague. He had booked a bike taxi for the remaining journey home and was waiting when two men approached him seeking help to make a phone call, claiming they had lost their own phone.

"Suddenly, the two forced him to sit on their bike and took him to the Jamunwala bridge, where they robbed him of two mobile phones and Rs 700 cash from his wallet," said Muyal.

After robbing him, the accused allegedly threw him into the dried riverbed below the bridge before fleeing. "He lay there till a passerby spotted him writhing in pain and shouting for help in the early hours of Friday. The passerby informed Army personnel from a nearby camp. Three Army men reached the spot and rescued him before shifting him to a hospital, where he is undergoing treatment," Muyal added.

Meanwhile, a video of Kumar being rescued by Army personnel circulated widely on social media, in which he could purportedly be heard saying that the accused had put a cloth over his face before taking him away on their motorcycle.

An FIR against unidentified accused was registered on a complaint lodged by the victim's father, Vinod Kumar. Police said a case has been registered under relevant sections of the BNS. "A probe is underway to identify and arrest the accused by examining CCTV footage from the route and gathering local intelligence inputs," Muyal said.