The police in Shalimar Garden arrested six persons, including a serving head constable of Delhi Police, after two groups clashed with each other over a minor disagreement about playing their choice of songs at a café late Monday night.
Police said the disagreement escalated into a full blown street fight. Police identified the six arrested suspects as Surendra Bainsla, 42, Anil Kumar, 31, Sonu Kumar, 37, Hemant Bhati, 23, Anand Singh, 28 and Akash Bhati, 26.
The police said that Anand Singh along with several of his friends visited the Crustal Café in Shalimar Garden for hosting a party. There, Sonu Kumar, a serving head constable with Delhi Police, was also present with his friends and they were partying.
“It was around 11pm when there was some verbal altercation between the two groups who were pressuring the café owner to play songs of their choice. The altercation soon escalated into a physical fight. The two groups started beating each other and the fight spilled on to the street outside the café,” said Saloni Agarwal, assistant commissioner of police, Shalimar Garden.
A video of the fight was also captured by residents and later shared widely on social media. The video shows over a dozen men armed with rods and sticks chasing some men while one of their cars stood parked in the middle of the road.
The video also showed a police van arriving at the spot and nabbing six of them who were later formally arrested, officials said. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
“A hunt is on to trace other men who were involved in the fight. In all, police teams arrested six persons from the spot and these included a serving head constable of the Delhi Police. We will soon inform his senior officers. An FIR was also registered. Two persons, Anand and Sanjay, suffered injuries in the fight,” said Agarwal.
The police in this connection registered an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 191(3) (unlawful assembly), 190 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 324(4) (causing damage), and 191(2) (rioting) at Shalimar Garden police station.
Police said the café owner, Pankaj Kumar, is on the run and the police are trying to trace him.
“He did not inform police about the fight which started in the café. He was also operating the cafe beyond the permitted hours. Once he is traced, we will also seek documents from him for the café,” Mishra said.