BHOPAL: Four minor boys aged between 14 and 17 years in age assembled for a night out party on Saturday night at the house of one of them located near Moti Masjid.
They went out for a joy ride early on next morning on Sunday in their friend’s SUV. When 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 took their scooters. The four friends riding on two scooters hurled stones on eight luxurious cars & SUVs parked in posh Shyamla Hills and Koh-e-Fiza area. The minors also vandalised a luxury bus window glass with a stone. The minors specifically targeted the high-end vehicles only.
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 of them 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 wind screens 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 a bus. He said that one of his friends recorded the incident on 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. First case was registered on complaint filed by Jitendra Baghel, a resident of Anchal Apartment in Professor Colony. He stated in his complaint that 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.
