Minor girl killed in cross-firing

A 12-year-old girl was killed after being caught in cross-firing between two rival groups, which had an altercation over the allotment of a ration-shop at Kakodi area in Ghaziabad along the NH-24, on Friday afternoon. HT reports.

A 12-year-old girl was killed after being caught in cross-firing between two rival groups, which had an altercation over the allotment of a ration-shop at Kakodi area in Ghaziabad along the NH-24, on Friday afternoon.

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The minor, Shivani Kumari, was returning from a religious-ceremony on Friday and was caught in a clash between two rival-groups, led by a retired UP police head constable Bijender Singh and his rival Sunil Paini.

At least eight to ten rounds of firing was reported during the incident which led to the death of the girl and also left three men — Paini, Vijay Pal and Devender Kumar — critically injured.

“The girl lost her parents some time back and was staying with her grandparents at Kakodi. She sustained a bullet-injury in her throat and collapsed immediately. The group led by Singh opened indiscriminate fire at the rival group with their licensed-weapons,” said Avnish Gautam, police spokesperson.

Officials said that the two groups supported Robin Kumar and Kamal Jatav, who were bidding for a ration-shop in Kakodi area and belonged to different communities. Jatav managed to get the ration-shop dealership yesterday leaving the other group, led by Singh, furious.

Singh’s group escalated the matter as his supporters entered into an altercation with Paini and later opened fire. The Provincial Armed Constabulary was deployed in the area to avoid any further trouble.

Police said that they were awaiting a formal FIR in the case. They added that strict action would be taken against the group.