The fear of khaki appears to be on the wane in the national Capital with steep rise in attacks on men in uniform. Emboldened criminals do not even bat an eyelid before firing at an on-duty officer. It hasn’t even been three days and yet another Delhi Police constable has been shot dead while another is still critically injured.
The officials on patrol were shot at by a few criminals during a massive manhunt in the intervening night on Monday around 1.30 am in Outer Delhi’s Vijay Vihar area.
The criminals, however, managed to get away with the service weapon of a two-time Best Beat Constable award winner Jagvir Singh, who was killed in the operation.
The incident took place in lane no. 7 at l-Block area when beat constables — Jagvir (42) and Narender (40) — found the activities of a group suspicious and confronted them. Constables were on patrol on their motorcycle when they spotted an autorickshaw in the lane. Finding something amiss, they gave it a chase but the driver did not stop. Finally, the officers managed to intercept it. There were five people in the autorickshaw, including the driver. When they were frisked, live cartridges were found on them. The constables ordered them to come to the police station, hardly 400 metres away.
The constables committed the cardinal mistake of not going ahead with the body search, which proved fatal.
While Narender sat beside the auto driver, Jagvir sat behind with the others. One of the accused first kicked the auto driver and an argument ensued. After a minor scuffle, the accused men shot Jagvir in the chest at point blank range. Narender, meanwhile, jumped out of the autorickshaw and ran towards the police station, now 100 metres away. A criminal chased him and shot him in the back.
Jagvir tried to hold on to the autorickshaw but fell out after being pushed out by the criminals. The criminals, however, snatched the service revolver of Jagvir and fled from the spot.
The officials were later rushed to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital where Jagvir was pronounced dead on arrival while Narender was referred to Jaipur Golden Hospital and later shifted to Sir Ganga Ram on Monday.
According to Dr Bhim Nanda, consulting plastic surgeon, “He had a bullet injury below the shoulder. The bullet has been removed and he is recovering. He is out of danger,” said the doctor.
Jagvir’s body was sent for a post-mortem and later handed over to the inconsolable family. The CCTV footage is in police possession. The Crime Branch, Special Cell and forensics rushed to the scene. “A case under sections of murder, attempt to murder, theft and Arms Act has been registered. The dead constable was cremated with full police honours. Investigation into the case is underway,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Vikramjit Singh.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused, including a juvenile, were racing the area or had come to commit a theft/heist. A cutting machine and a master key were also recovered from the spot, which indicates that they could be auto lifters, informed a senior police official.