Toll plazas are easy targets, and are prone to attacks. In the latest such incident, a toll plaza on the Delhi-Agra highway — which leads straight to the fabled Taj Mahal — was attacked, vandalised and robbed by armed goons in Palwal, Haryana, on November 6. The entire incident was caught on CCTV.
An FIR (No. 589) was lodged in Sadar Palwal police station against 14 hooligans, with their names given, but no arrests were made till Tuesday evening. "They are (the accused) not absconding. They are around but we have made no arrests so far," Jaivir Singh, SHO, Sadar Palwal police station told dna.
The Palwal Toll Plaza is operated by DA (Delhi-Agra) Toll Ltd, a Reliance Infra Ltd., subsidiary. It is located in Tumsara village, in Palwal, Faridabad district. It was attacked around 6.15pm on November 6. The day before the company had lodged a complaint against some people who had forced their way through the toll gates without paying the toll.
"This did not go down well with those named in the complaint. The hooliganism, ransacking and looting of cash was to avenge the police complaint made by the toll operator against some people who were in the habit of using the toll plaza without paying toll," Gurmeet Tuteja, revenue manager, DA Toll Ltd, told dna.
He said around 20 goons armed with guns and sticks drove up to the toll plaza in different vehicles, blocked vehicle movement on lanes 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11, fired 20 rounds in the air, attacked toll booth employees, ransacked and vandalised property, including tolling equipment, worth lakhs of rupees before decamping with nearly Rs 2 lakh in cash .
A the hooligans went on the rampage, workers at the toll plaza took to their heels to save their lives. The attack continued uninterrupted for at least 15 minutes. A call was made to the Police Control Room. Finally, nearly 30 minutes, the police arrived. By then the goons had fled.
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