The violence that erupted across Punjab, Haryana in the aftermath of conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a rape case claimed 31 lives and the cost of widespread damage to public property has not been estimated yet.
Delhi also saw a few incidents of arson after the verdict. Gurmeet’s followers allegedly torched a bus in northeast Delhi’s Loni Chowk on Friday. Bus-burning incidents were also reported from Outer Delhi’s Mangal Puri near Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital and West Delhi’s Khayala. A fire also engulfed two coaches of the Rewa Express stationed at the Anand Vihar Railway Station in east Delhi.
In North-East Delhi’s Jyoti Nagar area, two buses were torched by the criminals. Had it not been the courage and alacrity of a DTC bus driver and a conductor of another, the attack could have turned into a major casualty.
Narrating the incident, Ramesh Kumar, the driver of red DTC bus which was carrying nearly 70 passengers, said Four men, all of them wearing black helmets, came in front of my bus.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim followers or gangster .
They burn two DTC buses in delhi pic.twitter.com/9a9Z9h6uwm— Gurmeet singh rana (@gurmeets184) August 25, 2017
Ramesh slowed down thinking, they are looking to cross the road. However, within seconds more than 40 people, all in black helmets, appeared out of nowhere and started breaking the windows and doors of the bus. All the while they were shouting their support for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
They first broke the window next to his seat and threw petrol at him. “I ripped off my petrol-soaked shirt and threw it before opening the door at the back to let everyone out,” said Ramesh.
However, the miscreants entered the bus and forced passengers back to their seats. Ramesh gathered courage and fought the goons off. “I could see my life ending, but dared to fight them off and free the passengers.”
At the same time, Anil Kumar, the conductor of a green bus which was behind the red DTC bus gauged the situation and told the driver to halt immediately.
“The passengers of the red bus ran towards our bus, but I opened the door of our bus and urgently asked the 70-80 passengers to disembark,”
When the attackers saw the green bus, they started pelting stones at the driver conductor and passenegrs but by that time Anil managed to get everybody off the vehicle. He was the last to disembark.
Video footage of criminals who set DTC buses on fire.Please inform @DelhiPolice @DCPNEastDelhi or call 100,if any clue about their identity. pic.twitter.com/fB6YRdkoR8
— Ravindra Yadav (@Ravindra_IPS) August 25, 2017
The duo helped save many precious lived that was allegedly put in jeopardy by the foillowers of rape convict Gurmeet Singh.
