Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Police are now engaged in a blame game after a woman was killed in cross-firing between Uttar Pradesh Police and alleged sand mafia in a Uttarakhand village.
Police of both states has registered cross FIRs in connection with the incident in which five police personnel were also injured.
The clash between the police and locals took place when an Uttar Pradesh police team was chasing one Zafar Ali, said to be a mining mobster, at Bharatpur in Uttarakhand on Wednesday evening.
Zafar carries a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Moradabad range, Shalabh Mathur said the Moradabad police registered an FIR invoking several sections of the IPC that cover rioting, harbouring an offender, resisting arrest, attempt to murder, dacoity, causing hurt to a public servant, criminal conspiracy and others against the residents of Bharatpur near Jaspur town of Uddham Singh Nagar district.
Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Hemant Kutiyal said the FIR was registered against Zafar, a wanted criminal, and 35 others who were not named.
Meanwhile, Uddham Singh Nagar SSP Manjunath T.C. said the Uttarakhand Police have registered an FIR against 10 to 12 Uttar Pradesh Police personnel for murder and other relevant sections of the IPC, on the complaint of the deceased’s husband lodged at the Kunda police station.
“The Uttar Pradesh Police had come here to nab a criminal who has a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head, but did not inform the local police about their arrival,” the officer added.
He said the Uttar Pradesh Police from the Thakurdwara station in Moradabad district raided the farmhouse of Gurtaj Singh Bhullar, the block pramukh of Bharatpur, that falls under the Kunda police station upon information that Zafar was taking shelter there.
He added that Zafar was wanted in connection with illegal confinement and misbehaviour with Thakurdwara SDM Parmanand Singh and Mining Inspector Ashok Kumar on September 13.
The Moradabad SSP said Bhullar, his father Sukhbinder Singh a.k.a. Chindar Singh and two uncles Jagtar Singh and Satnam Singh Satta had long criminal records.
Contradicting the Uttarakhand Police’s claims, the SSP added that the Moradabad police had constantly kept their counterparts in the loop.
“When the Moradabad police team reached there, Zafar was taken into custody. The locals, later, forcibly took away Zafar from police custody,” he said.
Earlier, the Moradabad range DIG had said Zafar and his aides had crossed into the Uttarakhand border and kept firing at the police team that was chasing them.
“Five of our policemen were injured, two of them have been hit by bullets fired by the mafia and his aides. Three others were hurt in stone pelting. Besides, Ali and his aides outnumbered the Moradabad police and snatched their weapons,” he added.
‘My wife was shot on the chest’
Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP leader Bhullar recalled he had returned home around 4 pm from a party in Noida.
“My wife had also returned from work in the evening. I was asleep when I heard that 10-12 men, claiming to be policemen from UP, had barged into our house for a raid in pursuit of one Jaffar, who they thought had taken shelter here,” he said.
According to the BJP leader, the men arrived in a Scorpio and a Sumo. “They were armed and in plain clothes,” Bhullar said.
“Everything happened between 6 pm and 6.30 pm. The cars did not have number plates and the windows were tinted. They did not have any search warrant and produced no identity proof. No lady police officer was accompanying them. The policemen headed to the first floor and barged into the rooms where my wife, sister-in-law and children were. I stopped them and told them that they must first inform the Uttarakhand police at the local police station (Kunda). But they were drunk and started abusing. Only a few family members and some cousins were home at the time. I tried to reason with them and brought six-seven of them downstairs to discuss the matter. Suddenly I heard someone shout, ‘Didi has been shot’,” he said.
Bhullar heard 3-4 gunshots. “One of them hit my wife on the chest. We rushed her to the hospital but she did not make it through,” Bhullar recounted.
Bhullar has appealed to the government to carry out CBI investigations so that the guilty are brought to justice as soon as possible. “I have two young children – a 5-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old son. I have lost everything,” he told The Indian Express.
