Four men were arrested here for allegedly assaulting policemen and obstructing them in their duty after an altercation broke out between them over the inspection of documents of a motorcycle, officials said on Thursday. The police had intercepted two men during a routine patrolling around 6 pm in Sector 58 after their motorcycle was found without a number plate on both front and rear sides, the officials said.

The men arrested claimed to be journalists

'When further checked, they also did not have any valid documents of the vehicle. Their motorcycle was impounded under Section 257 of the Motor Vehicle Act and the two men, one of whom did not tell his name to the policemen on the query, left,' a police official said. 'Their motorcycle had a sticker of an English TV news channel and they claimed to be journalists but had no identity proof of it," the official told PTI.

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Around 7.45 pm, the duo returned to the Labour Chouraha in Sector 58 with two other men, who too claimed to be journalists, one of the news channel and the other of a leading Hindi daily. They started pressuring the police to leave the motorcycle and withdraw the complaint, even as a crowd had gathered at the spot and ruckus ensued between the four men and the police, according to the official.

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A policeman got injured during the commotion

The accused men began manhandling the policemen and used small stones lying on the roadside to hit the team in which one policeman got injured, while ruckus ensued on the road. When checked for their details, none of them was found to be journalists, the policeman said. Those arrested have been identified as Ravindra Kanaujia, Jeetu, Sandeep alias Golu and Rocky alias Avinash, all four hailing from adjoining Bulandshahr district, according to the police.

Meanwhile, a photojournalist attached with the digital wing of a Hindi daily who was also present at the spot when the incident took place, was also arrested along with the four men. 'The photojournalist was passing from the area when he saw the crowd. He also thought that these four men were journalists and got into a spat with the policemen. He was also arrested and taken to the police station as part of proceedings but was released in the morning when his identity was proven', the official told PTI.

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Meanwhile, the four accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation),  and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), the police said. The four were produced in the District and Sessions Court, Surajpur, on Thursday morning which remanded them in judicial custody, the police added.

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