Two suspected criminals injured in separate shoot-outs within an hour

NEWDELHI: In two separate alleged encounters that took place within an hour on Monday evening, the Delhi Police’s special cell shot and injured two alleged criminals. In all, at least 18 rounds were exchanged in the two shoot-outs, said Pramod Kushwaha, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), adding that one policeman was hit, but was saved by his bullet-proof vest.

The first of the two alleged encounters took place at 8.10 pm near Rajghat when a suspected robber-cum-snatcher, Imran (25), was asked to stop his scooter by a special cell team that was on the lookout for him.

“When signalled to stop, the suspect tried to speed away. We managed to stop him, but he pulled out a pistol and fired three rounds at us. In self-defence, we fired four rounds at him. One bullet hit his leg,” said the DCP.

Imran has been shifted to a hospital and is out of danger, the officer said, adding that he is a resident of east Shastri Park and had earlier been arrested on 17 counts of robberies and snatching. “He is an absent bad character of Delhi,” said the DCP.

The other alleged encounter took place near the Bhalaswa landfill in north Delhi at 9pm, said the officer, identifying the suspect as Pratham Anand (32).

A resident of west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, Anand has been named in 25 criminal cases such as robberies, snatching, assault and under the Arms Act, said the DCP. “He is a proclaimed offender in many of these cases,” the officer said.

Anand was on the special cell’s radar since a month when a video of him firing outside a house in north Delhi’s Mahindra Park had gone viral, said the DCP.

The officer said the special cell had laid a trap after receiving a tip-off that he would come near the landfill. “Anand was riding a motorcycle and was identified by our informer. When we asked him to surrender, he whipped out a pistol and fired six-seven rounds at the police,” said the DCP. One bullet fired by Anand hit a head constable’s bulletproof vest, said the DCP. “We fired five rounds at Anand, one of which hit his leg,” said the DCP. NEWDELHI: A 22-year-old MA firstyear student of the Jamia Millia Islamia university was found hanging from the ceiling fan of a room at his rented house in southeast Delhi’s Okhla Vihar on Monday afternoon.

Police said the man left a videorecorded message in which he has held himself responsible for ending his life.

According to the media, the death came to the fore when the man’s friends went to his house to check on him after he was not seen in the college. Found hanging, the man was brought down and immediately rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said the post-mortem report would confirm the cause of death, and the report is awaited. “His family has been informed,” he said.

An official from the university said they were informed that the student had recorded an 18-second video on his phone in which he is heard and seen saying that nobody was responsible for his death. “We are all shocked. We are not aware of the reason behind his step,” the official said.