State Director-General of Police BS Sidhu lauded the two policemen who were seriously injured in a gun battle with criminals at Kashipur area in Udham Singh Nagar on Thursday.
Sidhu also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 each to the seriously injured policemen - Sub-Inspector Prahlad Bisht and head constable Pradeep Kumar - for their spirit to take on the criminals. The Police department would bear all the medical expenses. Initially, they will be given Rs 25,000 each on this count, said DGP Sidhu. As per police headquarters’ report, acting on a tip-off, these two policemen were part of a police team which had conducted raided the house of Gurmeet Singh, located under ITI police station area, Kashipur, where some criminals reportedly took shelter. These criminals had earlier on March 5-6 looted a patrol pump of RS Indian Oil and decamped with around Rs 50,000, a lCD, a mobile phone and others from the pump employees.
Sensing that police were trailing them, the criminals fired shots at the cops while others huddled in the hideout began pelting stones targeting the cops. In retaliation, police forces also shot fires. Incidentally, no criminal was reportedly inured in the gun fight though two members of the police team sustained bullet injuries during the incident. The criminals hit Prahlad Bisht in his leg, while Pradeep Kumar on his jaw. Constables Dheeraj Bhandari and Kuldeep were seriously injured in stone-pelting.
Police managed to arrest two criminals - Gurbaj Singh and Pratap Majumdar - residents of Udham Singh Nagar, and recovered weapons and some stolen items from their possession. The third criminal managed to escape. Crimes keep occurring, one after other. An observer said things have come to such a pass that the criminals are making bold to open fire on police.
“There are instances of Uttarakhand police, seemingly bereft of spunk, beating retreats while being challenged this audacious way. This is despite the fact that police suffer from no dearth of modern equipments. These incidents are laying bare Uttarakhand police’s inefficiency in rightly encountering such emergencies,” the observer added.