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Murder, dacoity accused gunned down while trying to flee custody in Shahjahanpur
Shahbaz had stabbed a private college professor to death and had injured three of his family members while attempting dacoity at his house, in the wee hours of Tuesday
A criminal, Shahbaz, 28, was shot dead in a police encounter when he tried to escape from custody after snatching a sub-inspector’s pistol, late on Tuesday evening, senior police officials said here on Wednesday.
Shahbaz had stabbed a private college professor to death and had injured three of his family members while attempting dacoity at his house, in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The action came after the family members and relatives of the deceased professor, Alok Gupta, 35, staged a protest by keeping his body on the road, demanding stern action against those involved in the dacoity and murder incident.
Shahjahanpur superintendent of police (SP), Ashok Kumar Meena said that a group of armed assailants barged into the house of Gupta at Bazargher locality of Meeranpur Katra. In the incident, Gupta was stabbed multiple times and succumbed during the treatment, while his wife, Sonam Gupta, brother, Prashant Gupta and father, Sudhir Gupta, were severely injured.
The SP said Prashant Gupta, however, confronted the assailants bravely and nabbed one of the assailants, who was later identified as Shahbaz, and foiled the dacoity as well as forced the other assailants to flee from the spot. He said one more person involved in the crime, Shahroz was later arrested on the information extracted from Shahbaz.
He said the deceased’s wife had lodged a FIR of murder, dacoity and criminal house trespass against eight people. He said two arrested persons and a local politician Sageer Khan, who allegedly used to give patronage to them, were named in the FIR and further investigation is on.
Another police official told mediapersons that Shahbaz tried to escape from police custody while being taken for medical examination after interrogation. He said Shahbaz snatched the pistol of sub-inspector Hitesh Tomar and opened fire on police personnel. He was gunned down in retaliatory firing.
He said the interrogation of the two accused had earlier revealed that Shahbaz and Shahroz were also involved in a similar incident of murder of former Samajwadi Party city president Mohd Sartaj during a dacoity at his house around six months ago.
