Punjab women's panel chief says her car targeted on highway, cops claim road rage

Punjab women's commission chief Manisha Gulati Wednesday alleged that a group of persons in two cars tried to hit her SUV several times between Sonipat and Panipat in Haryana. The incident took place when Gulati was travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh on the busy Chandigarh-Ambala highway on Wednesday morning.

Police said two people are being questioned and the matter seems to be a case of "road rage". Gulati said she was travelling in a Toyota Fortuner -- a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) -- and it was being driven by her son. The police escort vehicle was ahead her car, she said.

"Suddenly, two cars tried to overtake our vehicle. I asked my son to let them go ahead. But the two cars kept following us between Sonipat and Panipat," she said. One of the cars tried to hit the escort vehicle and its occupants even hurled abuse at the security personnel inside it, the Punjab State Women's Commission chairperson said.

"Then another car tried to hit our SUV and topple it. In the meanwhile, I rang up Panipat's superintendent of police. As the two cars increased their speed, our SUV followed them while escort vehicle was a little behind. But, as we neared a toll point and saw a police vehicle stationed there, we stopped to lodge a complaint," she said. Gulati said the occupants of both the cars on seeing a police vehicle turned back and fled.

"Before turning in the opposite direction, occupants of one car tried to threaten us. We gave all the details to the police in our complaint. I also clicked a picture of one of the cars," she said. Panipat's Deputy Superintendent of Police, Satish Kumar said two persons have been detained and are being questioned.

"We are questioning them," he said, adding during preliminary questioning the matter appeared to be of"road rage". When asked if she had any enmity with anyone, Gulati replied, "I don't have enmity with anyone".

She, however, said being the chairperson of the commission, she was handling a couple of "high-profile" cases pertaining to inter-caste marriages. "In one of these two cases, some persons had earlier threatened me and some of my staff members," Gulati said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)