Barcode on beer bottle helps police crack assault case

New Delhi: A man was allegedly struck on the head with a broken beer bottle after a scuffle with three people escalated in Delhi’s Karol Bagh area, police said on Sunday.

It was the barcode on the beer bottles that helped police nab the three men who were allegedly drunk and misbehaving with the victim at a park on Monday, before they hit him with force on the head, they said. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital in Karol Bagh for treatment and survived the attack. Police registered an FIR under various sections of the BNS, including for attempt to murder, based on the his complaint.

The incident happened when the victim was shooting reels with a friend at Ajmal Khan Park on December 15. Three men unknown to them were allegedly drinking nearby and soon started misbehaving with them.

“When the complainant objected to their conduct, a heated argument began, which soon escalated into violence. One of the accused broke a beer bottle and hit the complainant on the head with sharp glass, causing grievous injuries,” a senior police officer said.

“Considering the seriousness of the offence and rising incidents of violent assaults in public places, a special police team was constituted. During a detailed inspection of the crime scene at Ajmal Khan Park, police recovered a broken piece of a beer bottle allegedly used in the attack.

Significantly, the bottle fragment they recovered contained a barcode, which turned out to be a crucial forensic lead in the case, he said.

Police said that using the barcode, the investigating team traced the source of the bottle by visiting nearby liquor vends. CCTV footage from the identified wine shop and surrounding areas was analysed, leading to the identification of a scooter suspected to have been used by the accused. Further examination of CCTV footage from nearby locations helped police establish the identities of the suspects.

“Our teams apprehended three accused -- Hammad alias Rizwan (22), Kamran alias Sarim (24) and Farzan (24) -- on December 18 within 72 hours of the incident. During interrogation, all three accused confessed to their involvement in the attack,” the officer said.

They told police that the altercation began when they asked the complainant for a matchbox, which he refused.

The accused then checked the complainant’s pockets, leading to a confrontation that escalated.

“Hammad who lives in the Bada Hindu Rao area was found to be a historysheeter with 20 FIRs registered against him,” the officer said.