‘Students who attacked cops are civil services aspirants’

Twenty policemen comprising constables and beat staff had a harrowing ordeal as they had to defend themselves from a horde of marauding students who laid siege to a police booth on New Year. After the reserve force came to their rescue, around 30 students were detained and were later let off on bail. 

Police have informed, that in a cruel twist of fate, many of those under suspicion are students preparing for UPSC and SSC exams, who would go on to become future police officials.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that the people who were detained and the rest of the group are made up of IAS aspirants. They were preparing for UPSC and SSC exams and they were later released on bail,” said a senior police official privy to the investigation.

The police have still not given the exact make up of students and the courses that they were pursuing but have maintained that a majority of them were pursuing UPSC and SSC. 

Now, the investigators are trying to establish the identity of the two accused, who were initially detained after which the crowd gathered around the police booth. “Constable Anil, who had helped rescue the girl and the other police constables who were attacked, are currently giving us the details of the two accused. We are making their sketches, and around 2,500 people have been questioned. We have also approached several coaching institutes in the area to establish their identity,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, (North-West), Milind Dumbre Mahadeo. 

The woman who was allegedly molested by the crowd has not yet contacted the police and they are still waiting for her complaint. The police have also started to look into numerous CCTV footages of the area to establish her identity. 

The police are now planning on conducting several meetings with the students, coaching staff of the area in a bid to sensitise them about the assault and to also make headway in the case. “It is impossible to talk to every student, so we have identified several people who hold sway in these area like the coaching staff, PG staff and many college students. We plan on sensitising them about the New Year incident, so that they may not occur in the future,” Mahadeo added.