Doctor attacked in suspected road rage

An orthopaedic surgeon specialising in robotic surgery was dragged out of his car and thrashed by a gang of thugs on the busy Noida Link Road in Mayur Vihar Phase I on Saturday evening. He is now in hospital with wounds that needed 35 stitches.

Police sources said the assault was probably the fallout of a minor road accident the victim and his attackers were involved in over a month ago. The doctor’s family, however, said the incidents were unconnected.

Six men in an Innova intercepted Dr Lavinder Tomar’s (41) Skoda in front of Vardhaman Apartments at 9.30 pm, R.K. Sehgal, the victim’s cousin, said. “The men had iron chains wrapped around their fists. They pulled out my cousin and his driver Manoj (26) and beat them mercilessly. They took away his wallet, gold chain and rings,” Sehgal said.

The attackers had reportedly been on Dr Tomar’s tail from the time he left his clinic in Mayur Vihar market, about a kilometre from where he was intercepted. The surgeon is a consultant at Max, Patparganj; his wife Vibha is a psychologist.

A police officer said that on May 5, an employee of Dr Tomar’s had gotten into a scuffle with a group of men after his bike brushed their Innova. “The assault seems to have been a fallout of the earlier incident,” the officer said. “The men were from the same area, and on Saturday evening, the same employee scuffled with them again. Dr Tomar intervened. We have identified the main man in the group, and are questioning him.”

Sehgal said Dr Tomar was an “educated person” who wouldn’t get into a street brawl over an accident that happened long ago. According to him, the doctor simply became a victim of armed robbery. “If he had ever had a fight with anyone, he would definitely have complained to police.”

Over the past three days, three people have been shot dead in busy areas of Amar Colony and Andrews Ganj. Two people were shot at in Ambedkar Nagar on Saturday night.