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Drunken SUV rampage ends in shootout in Ranchi, 2 held
Police opened fire on an SUV fleeing after injuring pedestrians, wounding an occupant. Two suspects, involved in prior violence, were later arrested.
An occupant of an SUV ended up receiving bullet injury as police opened fire to stop the vehicle that was allegedly trying to flee after hitting some persons here in the wee hours of Tuesday, officials said.
A police official close to the matter said the injured was identified as Gurfan, who was sitting besides the driver of the SUV, which also tried to hit the policemen on duty.
SP (city) Paras Rana said the fire was opened for the protection of life of police personnel on duty and innocent common people.
“Two youths were in the Balero. They were in a drunken state. They first had some dispute with transgenders with whom they had taken drinks. Following the dispute, they drove their vehicle on them. This caused injury to a transgender person. Two others had a miraculous escape. They then crushed a young man who tried to intervene and kidnapped him. After police tried to intercept their vehicle, they also hit a police vehicle and injured two jawans,” SP (city) Rana said.
Asked about the background of the two people in the SUV, Rana said one of them was involved in a communal violence in Nagri.
“Those sitting in the vehicle were identified as Ishtiaq Ansari and Gurfan Ansari. Ishitaq is named in a case of communal violence registered at Nagri police station,” he said.
A police official aware of the matter said, “It was getting to 2.30am when on a tip-off police launched a chase. Police also set up blockades across the district and began pursuing the accused in a PCR van. Feeling cornered, the accused rammed the police vehicle twice and attempted to crush the policemen. The police pursued them to Baski village in Mandar police station area, where the two had parked their Bolero. Despite police warning them to surrender over the public address system, the accused rammed their vehicle into the police team, injuring bodyguard Havildar Pramod Bhagat.”
The official said police fired at the SUV’s tyre, hitting a criminal sitting in the front seat. Following pressure, the accused abandoned the injured abducted youth identified as Bunty Kumar on the road and fled. Police admitted him to sadar hospital.
The accused, the police official said, then drove the SUV to Rinchi hospital for treatment of the one injured in police firing. When police came to know about the same, they reached there and arrested both.
