3 children survive as suspect’s pistol got jammed: Cops
After shooting the 32-year-old woman and a teenaged tutor during the robbery in the woman’s house at Saraswati Vihar on Saturday night, one of the suspects had tried to open fire at the woman’s three minor children, but his pistol got jammed, police said on Sunday.
The two deceased were identified as Dolly Thakur and Anshu Kumari, 16. Dolly’s three children -- twin girls, Gauri and Minakshi aged nine years, and son Rudra aged five years -- suffered severe injuries, but survived, police said.
The three children are admitted to a private hospital, police said, adding that condition of one of them is critical.
Police have arrested two suspects in the case -- Uma Singh, a resident of Lal Quarter area of Ghaziabad, and her male friend Mohammad Sonu who allegedly shot Dolly and Anshu.
“The suspect had brought a .32 calibre pistol with him and he shot the woman and the teenaged girl dead. Later, when he tried to open fire at the three children, the pistol got jammed. He then inflicted severe injuries to the three children with a knife and grinding stone kept in the kitchen. Assuming that all were dead, he fled the house with his woman accomplice,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).
After the incident Sonu left
Uma at her house and picked up another .315 calibre pistol and fled the house, police said, adding that it was with the second pistol that the suspect opened fire at the police near Dasna on late Saturday night and sustained a gunshot to his leg as a result of retaliatory firing by the police.
“They (suspects) inflicted severe injuries to the throat of my three children and also hit them with a grinding stone. We rushed the children to a hospital for treatment,” said Mahesh Thakur, Dolly’s husband.
“One of my daughters told me that ‘Amma’ who stays at Lal Quarter locality had come to the house on the night of the incident. My children are still in hospital and one of my daughters is on ventilator support while two are stable,” he added.
The doctors at Yashoda Hospital in Nehru Nagar where the children are admitted said that Minakshi was on ventilator support. “Her condition is critical, and we have put her on ventilator support. She has injuries to her throat and head,” said Dr Sangita Garg, chief medical superintendent of the hospital.
The SP said, “One of the two injured girls (Gauri) told us it was their relative from Lal Quarter locality who came to the house with a man and introduced him as a tailor. Once the child gave us clues, we conducted a raid at the house and the woman was arrested and her friend was later nabbed.”