Gunner of senior police officer shot dead in UP

Lucknow: Gunner of a senior police officer was on Wednesday shot dead and his carbine looted in an encounter with criminals in Chilkana area in Saharanpur district, a senior officer said here.

"Circle officer Sadar Umesh Kumar Yadav received information this morning that some criminals have looted two petrol pumps in Yamuna Nagar on Haryana side and were fleeing towards Saharanpur," IG (law and order) R K Vishwakarma said. He said on the information the CO along with his two followers Rahul Rathi and Ram Kumar chased the criminals. The IG said the criminals in an attempt to escape turned towards a mud road, but their vehicle got stuck as a tractor was coming from the opposite direction. Rathi promptly challenged the criminals and held one of them at the gunpoint, he said. "While Rathi was trying to nab the criminals one of them fired from inside the vehicle and he died on the spot," he said. Vishwakarma said that taking advantage of the confusion, the criminals took away Rathi`s carbine and escaped after snatching motorcycles of passerbys. He said that yesterday the same criminals had looted a double barrel gun of a security guard of Pooranmall Degree College in Kairana and it seemed that the same gun was used. PTI