Cops on camera: Ghaziabad police’s ‘live operation’ raises eyebrows

The entire sequence of events is captured live by a group of mediapersons who were present at the scene, leading to claims in some quarters that the event might have been staged.

A Ghaziabad police team on Thursday night, in a dramatic chain of events, flagged down a bike near Kamla Nehru Nagar, fired multiple shots in the air and nabbed one of the ‘fleeing’ bikers after a 100 metre chase .

The entire sequence of events is captured live by a group of mediapersons who were present at the scene, leading to claims in some quarters that the event might have been staged.

The entire sequence of events is captured live by a group of mediapersons who were present at the scene beforehand, leading to claims in some quarters that the event might have been staged.

The incident took place around 9.30pm on Thursday, when a Ghaziabad police team was busy carrying a ‘routine checking’ in a jungle area near Kamla Nehru Nagar.

According to footage captured by some mediapesons, two men on a bike appear from a lane and are signalled to stop. Instead, they try to flee, with police officers chasing them on foot firing multiple shots in the air.

After a chase of nearly 100 metres, a man with his mouth covered, is pulled out by the police team from some bushes nearby. The other accused managed to flee.

This was the first ‘live encounter’ carried out by the city police and a special operations group team involving Akash Tomar, the superintendent of police (city), sub-inspectors Anjani Kumar, Rajiv Baliyan and four constables were involved in it. Tomar, refused to comment on the incident, despite repeated attempts.

In a video circulated on social media, a team of Ghaziabad police is spotted reaching the secluded Kamla Nehru Nagar on Thursday and launching a ‘combing operation’ in a patch of jungle, without any protective gear.

Ghaziabad’s senior superintendent of police HN Singh said, “We don’t know how media persons reached the spot. It was a routine exercise and one suspect was nabbed by our team.”

The suspect ‘nabbed’ by the police was identified as one Deepak Sharma, who was carrying a reward of ₹25,000 on his head. He is stated to be a part of 10-member gang which is accused of being indulged in a Rs 28 lakh robbery and a 2011 double murder in Andhra Pradesh, a statement by the police said. Deepak has been previously booked in a case of robbery and Arms Act by Ghaziabad police.

Some senior Uttar Pradesh government officials slammed the ‘live encounter’ as ‘window dressing and orchestrated’ a demanded a magisterial inquiry.

Some senior Uttar Pradesh government officials slammed the ‘live encounter’ as ‘window dressing and orchestrated’ and emanded a magisterial inquiry.

“In countries like the US, police teams wear body cameras and have their own photographers covering the spot during live encounters for transperancy. Policing is a serious business and everybody should be concerned about the proper use of ammunition and arms. It seems that personnel nowadays are more concerned about media attention,” said Vikram Singh, former UP director general of police.

“Media persons present at an encounter spot is not illegal but pose a professional hazard ,” said Amitabh Thakur, IG (rules & manuals), UP police.