Two of poaching gang that killed three cops in MP try to flee, held

GUNA (MP): Two men, arrested for their alleged involvement in the gunning down of three policemen in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district, were shot in the legs after they tried to escape from the police custody on Sunday, an official said.

The duo was again held by the police and was later hospitalised along with two policemen, who were injured in the incident, he said.

Three policemen were killed in the early hours of Saturday after the poachers opened fire on them on Sahrok Road near Saga Barkheda village under Aron police station limits, some 60 kilometres from the district headquarters.

While two of the poachers involved in the incident were killed in the firing by the police personnel separately later, two others, identified as Shanu alia Shafaq Khan (27) and Mohammad Jiya Khan (28) were arrested following an encounter late on Saturday evening, the official informed.

“During their interrogation, Shanu and Jiya Khan said they had hidden some arms and dead black buck in Raghogarh forest.

While being taken to the spot on Sunday afternoon, Shanu yanked the steering of the vehicle, due to which it veered off the road, following which they tried to flee,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajiv Mishra.

“Jiya Khan tried to snatch the service revolver of sub inspector Amit Agrawal, leaving the latter and driver constable Deepak Ojha injured. To stop the two from fleeing, we shouted out a warning, then fired in the air and then shot them in the leg to subdue them,” he said.

Shanu and Jiya Khan were admitted to Aron primary health centre, where the two injured policemen are also recuperating, Mishra said.

On Saturday, after the three policemen were gunned down, a house-to-house search was conducted in Bidhoria village, which led to the discovery of the bullet-hit body of one of the accused, identified as Naushad.

Later that evening, another accused, Shahzad Khan, was killed in an encounter with police.

The poachers were hunting black buck for meat for a wedding function in Naushad’s family, and a police team arrived after getting a tip off about their presence, the police said.

Three policemen were killed in the early hours of Saturday after the poachers opened fire on them on Sahrok Road