Gurugram, March 1: A 50-year-old property dealer was arrested and a local authority official sacked on Wednesday over the theft of flower pots kept for beautification of the area for a G20 event here, officials said.
Police also recovered 10 stolen flower pots and an SUV, which was used in the crime, from the arrested accused, they said.
An official of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has been sacked after his name was revealed by the arrested accused, GMDA said.
Gurugram police on Tuesday lodged an FIR into the theft of flower pots after a purported video clip of two men stealing them went viral on social media.
The arrested accused, identified as Manmohan, is a resident of Gandhi Nagar area in Gurugram, police said, adding a GMDA official has also come under the scanner as the accused revealed that he had called him at the spot to pick the plants.
"The GMDA official has been identified as Nawab Singh, who is manager in the urban environment division. We will also arrest him soon. The main accused, Manmohan, was let off on police bail after he joined the investigation," DCP (east) Virender Vij said.
Police said the suspect was traced with the help of his vehicle's registration number which was visible in the viral video. The vehicle, a Kia Carnival, which is registered in the name of the accused's wife, has also been seized, they said.
"During interrogation, the accused revealed that Nawab Singh is his friend who had called him at the spot to pick the plants," the DCP said.
A GMDA official said that Nawab Singh was a contractual employee of the authority.
"In view of the incident (flower pots being picked up by a citizen) which has been captured on camera, the concerned staff on duty during the occurrence of the incident has been terminated from his service," said a spokesperson of GMDA.
The complaint in the case was lodged after District Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav took cognisance of a viral tweet and asked the Gurugram police to intervene and investigate the matter.
The incident took place Monday in front of the Ambience mall on the Delhi-Gurugram expressway. The man in the video clip can also be seen putting those pots in the boot of an SUV.
A number of flower pots were set up here ahead of G20 meetings that are scheduled to take place from March 1 to 4.
An FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by Metropolitan Green Planner, Urban Environment Division of GMDA.
"It has been observed that some passersby/thieves are stealing flower pots placed on the roadside. A video of the theft of flower pots is also going viral on Twitter, in which the registration number of the car used in the theft is HR 20 AY 0006," the FIR said.
However, there is no record of the vehicle bearing registration number HR 20 AY 0006 on the government's 'Vahan' website. Instead, the site shows a Haryana-registered vehicle having number HR 20 AB 0006.
An FIR was registered against unidentified accused under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code at DLF Phase 3 police station.
A video of two men in a Luxury car (Kia Carnival) seen allegedly stealing flowerpots arranged for the upcoming G20 summit in Haryana’s Gurugram has gone viral on Social Media. pic.twitter.com/ZoXkGYXpxs
— Gagandeep Singh (@Gagan4344) February 28, 2023
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London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.
Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.
Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".
"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.
"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.
A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.
"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.
"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.
“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.
It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.
The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.
“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.
A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.
Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.
The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.
His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.
“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.
Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.
“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.
Another violent anti-Indian attack in Ireland
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 5, 2025
Taxi driver Lakhvir Singh was attacked with glass bottles while doing his job pic.twitter.com/mtkwhLWISx