New Delhi: An employee of a shop was injured after being allegedly attacked by a rival shopkeeper with a hatchet in presence of a police team in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, police said on Friday.
The police personnel, present on the spot, did not anticipate the attack, but they managed to apprehend the accused, they said.
The victim, Jairam (31), received several stitches for the injury to his head and is out of danger. On his complaint, a case of causing hurt and using dangerous weapons was registered at Malviya Nagar police station, a police official said.
However, it was followed by a counter-FIR in which a relative of the rival shopkeeper alleged that he was restrained and thrashed, the official said, adding the allegations are being investigated.
Owners of the two neighbouring paan shops and their employees have been quarrelling with each other for the past several months over use of the public space right outside the shops.
On April 9, when a quarrel between them threatened to turn ugly, Ramesh Gupta, owner of one of the shops made a PCR call. Three policemen, on patrol duty in the area, were sent to handle the situation, the police official said.
It was in the presence of police that the situation escalated and Ramesh was allegedly assaulted. He alleged that when his helper, Jairam, rushed to save him, the owner of the other shop attacked his servant with a hatchet used for cutting coconuts, the official said.
Jairam received a blow to his head, but was saved by others from further assault. A CCTV camera that captured the assault showed policemen taken aback by the sudden attack, but then apprehended the attacker, Yogeshwar.
No arrests have been made in the case so far, police said.