Still smarting under the shock of the November 17 shootoutat Ponty Chadha’s Chhattarpur farm that left the liquor baron and his brotherdead, the Gurgaon gentry was rattled once more by a gruesome shootout onDecember 11 inside the intensive care unit of a city hospital, barely a fewkilometers from Chadha’s farmhouse.
Triggered by a property dispute, the shootout resulted indeath of one while two others were gravely injured. According to locals, onegroup of locals from Khandsa village in Gurgaon’s sector 37 “ which executedthe shootout later “ beat up members of another group (Joginder Singh, 23, hisfather Satbir, 52, and grandfather Shivraj, 81) outside the local courtpremises a few days ago. The victims were subsequently admitted to the ICU ofSunrise Hospital in Gurgaon.
According to witnesses, around 100 armed men drove into thehospital premises in SUVs around 3 pm on December 11. Carrying sophisticatedarms, 10 of them entered the ICU and opened fire on the victims, gravelyinjuring them. They fled after seven minutes of the carnage, according to CCTVfootage available with the police.
Till the time of going to press, only one of the accused,Manoj, was arrested.
As cops in the Millennium City grapple with the phenomenalspurt in crime, every new crime unravels a new level of daring and shows thereare fearless lots with muscle and money.
In the past few years, the builder-driven growth in Gurgaonhas changed the local socio-economic scenario. Those who tilled lands invillages were suddenly showered with maddening offers from various builders.Mercs replaced tractors and mansions their earlier moderate houses. But thenouveau-riche social climbers had their own share of falls to grapple with:morality and moderation became the first casualties. The present-daycrime-ridden city is a result of that sudden growth.
Policing in the city has become a challenge. Despite therise in criminal cases, the police have been unable to stop these incidents,let alone induce fear among the lawless.
Crime against women has also touched a new peak in Gurgaon.In May 2010, women had to run for safety as hooligans tried to molest themduring a chaos after WWE wrestler Khali’s show was called off at Tau Devi Lalstadium. A girl was molested by a group of local youths inside a bar in SaharaMall in August this year while an Afghani girl was also molested inside aprominent bar on December 29. The police have not been able to check thesecases. One reason for that could be the numbers of men and women in khaki: of3,500 cops in the city, only 358 are women.
In association with Governance Now
