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Constable shot in face, home guard jawan attacked by four alleged criminals; two later caught in shootout
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
A Delhi Police constable is battling for his life after being allegedly shot in his face by four assailants when he and a Delhi home guard jawan managed to catch one of them while they were attempting a robbery at a construction site in Bharthal village in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka early Monday.
The home guard jawan also received head injuries after being hit with blunt objects by the assailants, who managed to flee after attacking the security personnel, the police said.
Two suspects, Mohammad Ali,32, and Mohammad Sultan,29, were arrested around noon after an encounter with police at Golf Link Road in Sector-23, Dwarka.
Both of them sustained bullet injuries on the lower parts of their bodies in the gun battle. Of the two bullets fired by the duo, one hit the bulletproof vest of an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), who escaped unhurt. Two country-made pistols with two bullets and a motorcycle were recovered from the arrested persons, said the police.
Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said the injured constable, Rajeev, underwent a surgery to pull out the bullet, which entered his jaw and got stuck on the right of his neck, causing serious damage to some organs.
“Despite being hit by a bullet in his face, constable Rajeev showed exemplary courage and dedication towards his duty and fired a bullet at the four assailants in a bid to stop them from fleeing. The assailants escaped unhurt. The home guard jawan Ajay Kumar too displayed bravery and tried to overpower the suspects even as he was attacked and injured in his head,” said DCP Alphonse.
Alphonse said that Rajeev and Ajay were on patrolling duty when around 3 am they were informed some criminals had sneaked inside a construction site at Bharthal village and opened fire when challenged by a security guard.
By the time the security personnel reached, the assailants had fled. The duo began a search operation and located the four suspects inside a property on the village outskirts. The suspects fled as they were asked to surrender.
“Rajeev and Ajay overpowered one of them. While they were taking him to the police station, the three suspects returned to rescue their associate. They shot Rajeev in his face, attacked Ajay and managed to rescue their aide. As they tried to flee, Rajeev fired a bullet at them despite sustaining the bullet injury,” the DCP said.
When the incident was brought to the notice of senior officers, five separate teams were tasked to nab the attackers. The teams found an auto-rickshaw at the incident spot and rounded up some criminals. The suspects were identified and teams launched a manhunt to nab them.
Around noon, the teams spotted two suspects on a motorcycle at Golf Link Road. Asked to surrender, they fired two rounds at the police. ASI Mahesh was hit in his bulletproof vest. Four rounds were fired from the police side. Both the suspects were hit by one bullet each in the lower parts of their bodies, the DCP added.
During the interrogation, a police officer said, Ali and Sultan were found involved in eight crimes, including two incidents of opening fire on police personnel. In 2014, they had allegedly shot head constable Sona Ram and home guard jawan Ramesh in Dwarka. The bullet injury caused permanent disability to the head constable.
