In a sensational daylight shoot-out in Chandwak area of Jaunpur, a sitting Block Development Committee (BDC) member and a police constable were sprayed with bullets fired from AK series assault rifle on Monday.
The motorcycle borne assailants used sophisticated firearms and fired at least 60 rounds at the victim’s car before speeding off to safety. Interestingly, the cop killed in the shoot-out was found to be 'missing from his duty' since November, 2015.
The double murder sent shock waves in the area and IG (Varanasi Zone) S K Bhagat rushed from Varanasi to take stock of the situation at the scene of crime. The IG supervised the formation of several teams to launch a hunt for the trigger-happy assailants.
Meanwhile, angry villagers protested the gruesome killing and took to the streets to demonstrate with the bodies.
As per reports, Block Development Committee member Radhe Shyam Singh (28) of Bhuldih locality of Chandwak (Jaunpur) and his friend Pankaj Singh (30) of Zarsi area of Jaunpur, were going to the BDC office on an Alto car on Monday morning. As they reached the Varanasi-Azamgarh highway, five youths riding two motorcycle started tailing their car. Before Singh could aprehend trouble, the youths intercepted the vehicle and fired a fusillade of bullets from AK series rifles. The heavy gunfire resulted in t he instant death of the BDC member and his friend on the spot. The assailants later sped off from the scene waving their firearms.
Alarmed by the staccato of gunshots, the locals converged at the scene and rushed the victims to a nearby hospital where both were pronounced dead upon arrival.
The angry mob later forcibly took away the bodies, placed it on the road and staged a protest. When cops from Chandwak police station reached there, they were surprised to learn that Pankaj Singh was a police constable.
IG (Varanasi Zone) SK Bhagat said that Pankaj Singh was a constable of 2004 batch and was transferred from Mirzapur to Ballia on August 25, 2015. He was later posted at Bansdih police station (Ballia) on Novermber 7 last year but never reported on duty and had been missing since then. A departmental enquiry has been on against Pankaj Singh.
The IG said that it will be probed as to how was Pankaj illegally using the police uniform even as he was missing from duty.