Noida restaurant staffers attack customers with knives, 3 held

The restaurant owner started fighting with customers and hurled abuses after they complained about the bad taste of the food they ordered.

Noida: Two Delhi residents were hospitalised with injuries after a knife attack on them at a restaurant in Noida, with the police here arresting three of the attackers, officials said on Monday.

The incident took place on April 30, five days after an attack on a private firm's executive at a restro-bar in a mall allegedly after an argument over the bill. The executive (30) had died of the bare-handed attack by employees of the restro-bar and the mall.

In this case, complainant Shailendra Pal (23) said he and his friends Rohit Nishad and Vishal Gautam had gone to 'Food Zilla'  'Chai Sutta' restaurant and cafe in Sector 15 for dinner on Saturday night.

"We had ordered a cold coffee and a shake but they had turned out to be bad in taste. When we reported this to the restaurant owner, he started fighting with us, hurled abuses and called in three or four of his staffers for the fight," Pal claimed.

"Somehow we managed to escape but they caught hold of Vishal and attacked him with a knife. Rohit and I went back to save him but then Rohit was also attacked. Both of them were injured and taken to a hospital for treatment," he alleged in a complaint to the police.

On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was lodged at the Phase I police station against the owner of the restaurant and its staffers. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

"The incident had taken place on Saturday night when the three people from Delhi had come to a restaurant in Noida. A fight broke out between the customer trio and the restaurant's owner over some issue. After that, the restaurant's staffers attacked the customers with sharp weapons," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ranvijay Singh said.

"We lodged an FIR in the case immediately and three people have been arrested. Further legal proceedings are being carried out," Singh said. He said the condition of the injured customers was stable now.