Bridge of contention

A war is on between the CEOs of Noida Toll Bridge and the Noida Authority. The news has already reached Union Home secretary

Boardrooms are boring,"u00a0 and two of the most powerful CEOs in Noida have taken the adage a bit too seriously.
The Noida Authority and the Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) are engaged in a hush-hush slugfest. A blame game is on and MiD DAY is in possession of documents to confirm that the matter has reached the office of the Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

It all started on the night of April 21 when three policemen reached the South Delhi house of NTBCL CEO Pradeep Puri to deliver an administrative showcause notice. In a complaint, a copy of which is in the possession of MiD DAY, to the NTBCL chairman GK Arora, Puri alleged that the cops had misbehaved with his family and vandalised his house. Puri claimed that he was away for some work when the incident occurred.

Neither Puri nor Arora confirmed the nature of the showcause notice, which the complaint describes as one "issued in relation to a matter governed by the provisions of the Concession Agreement dated November 12, 1997 between Noida, NTBCL and IL&FS".

When MiD DAY contacted Arora, he refused comment saying: "It is a confidential official matter. I will not speak anything. I am sorry."

Despite repeated attempts, Puri's office did not reveal his number and refused to speak about the issue. Noida CEO Mohinder Singh also did not answer repeated calls and SMSes.

Arora forwarded the complaint on behalf of Puri to Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Atul Gupta.

"One SHO, on deputation with the Noida Authority and two constables acting at the behest of the office of the CEO, Noida, barged into my residence on April 21 and misbehaved with my family members. On not finding me at home, they proceeded to criminally intimidate my family with threats and injury to their person, reputation as well as the property. The three policemen stayed for about 40 minutes before finally leaving the premises at about 9.40 at night," the complaint read.

The complaint also called for punishment against the accused under Sections 506 and 507 of the IPC. "The SHO and the two constables committed the offence of criminal intimidation under Section 503 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and an insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace under Section 504 of IPC," the complaint said.
Tejender Kumar, the SHO involved in the incident, however, rejected the allegation against him as baseless. "I have not done anything. I am clueless how my name appeared in the letter. Let there be an inquiry, I am sure I will be given a clean chit."

The UP chief secretary forwarded the complaint to the Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, who directed the Noida police to conduct an inquiry into the matter. Rajeev Narayan Mishra, Noida Circle Officer u2014 who is carrying out the investigation told MiD DAY: "The case in under the jurisdiction of the Delhi police yet we are trying to do everything possible.

We are yet to record the statements of the three policemen. We will complete the inquiry in a week and then we will comment on the issue."