Haryana: Head constable hurt in encounter with murder bid accused in Panipat
Motorcycle-borne accused flees with cop’s SUV only to be arrested after encounter with Assandh CIA team
Head constable Rishi Kundu, posted with the Karnal district police’s Assandh crime investigation agency (CIA), was critically injured when two motorcycle-borne assailants he was chasing opened fire on him in Panipat district on Wednesday night.
Police said the assailants were later intercepted near the Western Jamuna Canal in Karnal, where one of them was arrested after an encounter but the other fled after firing at the police vehicle.
Inspector Mandeep Singh, in-charge of the Assandh CIA team, said that the police were acting on a tip-off. He said police teams were on the trail of the assailants, Sawan and Suresh, who are accused of firing at the father-in-law of a sarpanch in Karnal’s Munak town on November 1. Three men have been arrested in connection with the case.
“Head constable Rishi Kundu was following the two accused in his personal vehicle, an SUV, after informing us about them. He asked the bikers to stop when one of them suddenly fired at him and fled with his vehicle,” the inspector said.
Following this, all police teams in the were alerted and multiple nakas were set up. Two teams of Karnal police also started patrolling the route between Panipat and Assandh via the Western Jamuna Canal, where they spotted Kundu’s SUV parked on the roadside with a youngster standing near it around 3 am.
“As we approached it, the man fired at us, while the another man sitting inside sped off with the vehicle. The CIA team provided cover and we retaliated, hitting the shooter in the knee. He has been identified as Sawan, a native of Sonepat. Our vehicle was also damaged with the rear windshield completely shattered,” inspector Vishnu Mitra, in-charge of the Civil Lines police station, said.
Meanwhile, police have received information that Kundu’s SUV was spotted in a field in Taroari town near NH-44 around 5 am.
SP Ganga Ram Punia said that Suresh, the accused who managed to flee, was the prime accused in the firing incident at the residence of Bhambarehri village Sarpanch Babita Rani, in which his father-in-law Mahinder Singh was critically injured.
Our teams are tracing Suresh, who will be nabbed soon, the SP added.
Meanwhile, Ambala Range IG Sibash Kabiraj, who also holds the additional charge as Karnal IG visited the injured cop at Panipat hospital and said that he is out of danger.
“Rishi tried to follow the men despite being shot, but they managed to get hold of his car and fled on it. DGP Shatrujeet Kapur has been briefed about the matter and our cop will be awarded for his bravery,” he added.
The accused, Sawan, is under treatment at Karnal civil hospital.
It has also come to the fore that he is also accused in some cases registered in Uttar Pradesh, the investigators said.
A fresh case has been registered at Old Industrial police station.