An Uttar Pradesh police sub-inspector was shot dead in Greater Noida’s Dadri, allegedly by notorious criminals during an encounter in the early hours of Monday.
Akhtar Khan (40), the in-charge of a police post in the district, had gone to raid a purported hideout after receiving a tip-off that a wanted criminal Sultan was hiding at a house in Dadri area, which falls under his jurisdiction.
Mr. Khan was heading a team of 12 policemen, which raided a hideout of notorious criminals Fukran and Javed at Nai Abadi area.
“As the leader of the team, he took charge and entered the house where the suspects were hiding. However, the moment he entered, the criminals opened fire and kept firing indiscriminately. Khan was shot in the neck and collapsed at the spot. The raiding party took cover and fired retaliatory shots but could not prevent the suspects from fleeing,” said a senior police officer.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dadri) Anurag Singh added that an injured Mr. Khan was rushed to a hospital by his colleagues but was declared dead on arrival. Khan, who joined the force in 1998 as a constable, was posted as in-charge of Kot police post of Dadri area. Hailing from Aligarh, he had cleared the internal exams to become a sub-inspector.
“We have registered a case against five persons and multiple teams have been formed to arrest the suspects,” said Mr. Singh.
While Deputy Inspector General (Meerut Range) Laxmi Singh visited Dadri after the incident and would now monitor the probe, Senior Superintendent of Police (Gautam Budh Nagar) Kiran S. said the police were also looking into whether there was any lapse in the efforts of the other policemen accompanying Mr. Khan. “We have initiated enquiry to find out the role of policemen in the raiding team during the encounter. The inspector of Dadri police station has been sent to police lines with immediate effect,” said Mr. Kiran S. Khan’s body was sent for post-mortem and will be handed over to his family soon. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Angry family members threatened that they would not perform the last rites till the accused were arrested. Wahid, brother of the deceased alleged that when his brother was hit by a bullet fired by criminals, all the policemen in the raiding team fled from the spot leaving his brother to die.
The incident provided fresh ammunition to opposition parties raising questions on the law and order situation in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Noida in particular. Local MP and Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said the incident reflected how goons had established their rule in UP.
Mr. Khan was heading a police team, which raided a hideout of criminals
