In a bizarre incident, a Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) was shot dead by his subordinate, an inspector, posted at Prithvipur police station on Monday afternoon. Soon after committing the crime, the Inspector also allegedly shot himself with his service revolver.
The police officer has been identified as KS Malik and Police Inspector Pramod Chaturvedi.
The incident took place at around 2.30 pm in the chamber of the SDOP. Reader of the SDOP on hearing the noise of firing rushed into the room and found both the SDOP and Police Inspector were lying dead. The Inspector was posted as SHO in the Prithvipur police station.
The staff of the SDOP immediately rushed the two to a nearby hospital, where they were declared dead.
After inspecting the spot, IG Pankaj Shrivastava told mediapersons that prima facie Chaturvedi fired three rounds of bullets from his service revolver at the SDOP and later committed suicide by shooting himself.
The IG said that the reason behind the incident was being investigated. Meanwhile, Chaturvedi’s brother Mukesh has alleged that the SDOP used to harass his Inspector brother every now and then.
However, sources claimed that the dispute was related to gambling that was rampant in Prithvipur region. This region is known for gambling even in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and people from there come to Prithvipur for gamble.
Recently, SDOP Malik had raided a gambling den without the knowledge of SHO Pramod Chaturvedi. In the records, the SDOP had mentioned that he recovered `40,000 from the post, but the SHO believed that more than `2 lakh was recovered from the gamblers. This was the reason behind the dispute between the two, it is said.
Sources claimed that over the same issue, the SDOP had summoned the SHO. While talking over the case, probably a dispute occurred and Chaturvedi killed his senior officer, they added.