NEW DELHI, April 13: In a bizarre incident at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Saturday night, a group of touts thrashed an employee of the airport outside the arrival hall even as hundreds of passengers looked on helplessly. Later, a group of touts armed with knives threatened employees who tried to help their colleague.The incident occurred around 11 pm, when Naresh, a sweeper at the airport, objected to some touts taking away the trolleys meant for passengers. This irked the touts.
An injured Naresh was rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital. None of the policemen on duty came to the rescue of Naresh. ``He was bleeding and his clothes were torn, we tried to contact the local police station but they refused to come. These touts have become a major nuisance, if they can do this to an employee, what about the safety of the passengers?'' asked an airport official. `` We contacted the local police station but they refused to help. We even managed to catch hold of a tout named Ajay but thepolice didn't turn up,'' he added.
Sources said the airport officials called the police control room and handed the touts over to them. At 2 am, airport officials managed to catch two of the touts, Dinesh and Sanjeev. However, they escaped before the police could arrive. Last year the touts had barged into the lounge and had beaten up a concessionaire over a trivial issue and this year there were several incidents of touts duping foreign tourists. ``This has proved that the touts are hand in glove with the police. What is worse is that even the tout who was handed over to the police control room officials was again caught by our staff at 4 am in the morning,'' an official said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
