A petrol pump salesman was shot at and cash worth Rs 40,000 looted by a trio of bikers here, after they were refused the fuel for not wearing safety helmets.
46-year-old Lal Singh, a salesman at Bharat Petroleum outlet at Banthla area here was shot by three motorcycle-borne men and Rs 40,000 looted from the station after a scuffle broke out between the parties over filling petrol yesterday, Prem Mohan Singhal, District General Secretary of UP Petrol Pump Dealers' Association said.
The assailants attacked the salesman after he refused to fill up the fuel as they were without the safety helmets and fled from the scene after the crime, he said.
Demanding a revocation of the Uttar Pradesh government's directive to not provide fuel to people with no helmet and seat belt while driving, Singhal said that the salesmen find themselves in danger while enforcing the diktat.
The salesmen have threatened to go on a strike against the move, he said.
However, Ghaziabad District Magistrate Vimal Kumar Sharma said that the state government's 'No helmet no petrol' drive shall be continued to educate the errant two wheeler drivers with full zeal.
The district administration is only executing the orders of state government, he said.
It is not a matter of helmet controversy. It was simply a scuffle between petrol pump salesmen and the bikers. The salesman slapped one of the bikers, in retaliation they fired at him. We are probing into the matter, Gorakh Nath Yadav, police inspector, Loni station said.
