In the absence of proper lavatory facilities in the Mela campus being organised at Chandrabani area under Patelnagar Police Station, six shopkeepers who had gone to defecate in the open were shot with an air gun on Tuesday morning. Police said one Ajay Bhatt, in a fit of rage, had fired pellets from his air gun after he found them defecating on his agricultural field where wheat stands.
The injured were admitted at the Doon Hospital and they are out of danger, said Patelnagar police station in-charge inspector Pankaj Gairola. The Mela is organised every year and the traders from various parts of the State as well as western Uttar Pradesh pitch shops there. Gairola said the accused had been questioned. The investigation revealed that he had not fired intentionally. Those who were shot with pellets have not lodged any complaint either, he said, adding the accused had not been arrested.
The locals and others participating in the fair said with the Centre and the State Government stressing on setting up toilets in the public places to stop people from defecating in the open, the Mela organisers should have arranged toilet facilities for the participants and the visitors. “They are principally responsible for the sordid incident,” one of them said.