A Police squad from the Ernakulam Rural police came under fire from a suspected burglary gang at Ajmer in Rajasthan, around February 20 (Tuesday) midnight, in a turn of events somewhat reminiscent of the recent popular Malayalam blockbuster movie, Kannur Squad.
The arrested include Danish Khan, 23, and Shehajad, 34, both, reportedly, residents of Uttarakhand. They were wanted in at least three burglaries reported in Aluva police station limits on February 9 and 10.
A five-member special squad appointed by the District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) Vaibhav Saxena to probe the serial burglaries had come under attack near the Ajmer Sharif Dargah under the Dargah police station limit in Ajmer. The Dargah police, which had assisted the team, had since then arrested them under a slew of charges, including IPC 307 (attempt to murder) and the Arms Act. A trainee IPS officer was reportedly injured in the incident.
“We are taking steps to procure transit warrant from relevant court to bring them here. It is good that they have been slapped with serious charges in the firing incident, which will further strengthen our cases here. They had no criminal records in Kerala and were here reportedly for a couple of days when they had pulled off the burglaries. They were caught off guard by the fact that they were tracked down by our team in ten days that too in their own den. They had fired at the team to scare them off. But our team stuck to the drill and overpowered them,” said Mr. Saxena.
The squad formed in the wake of the burglaries had examined hundreds of CCTV visuals and mobile call records before tracing the accused to Madhya Pradesh. However, upon arrival they discovered the accused had already left for Rajasthan and followed them.
The team intercepted them with the help of the local police when the accused were trying to flee in motorcycles. The accused then reportedly fired three rounds at the police team using what is suspected to be a pistol. “We suspect that the accused may be involved in more crimes across the State, as we have received reports about similar burglaries on the same days in other districts as well,” said Mr. Saxena.
The team led by Aluva sub inspector Sreelal, comprised civil police officers Mahin Shah Abubacker, Muhammed Ameer, Manoj and T.A. Afsal.
