Maverick op in Uttarakhand leaves BJP leader’s wife dead, 6 UP cops in hospital

Dehradun: A BJP leader’s wife was killed while six police officials of Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad police sustained grievous injuries after cops exchanged fire with locals trying to save an alleged land mafia in Uttarakhand’s Jaspur area on Wednesday night.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening at around 6pm when Moradabad cops, following a tip-off on the whereabouts of a history-sheeter land mafia named Zafar, raided the BJP leader’s house in plain clothes.
Reportedly, Zafar, who carries Rs 50,000 reward on his head, was hiding in Jaspur at BJP leader Gurtej Bhullar’s house.

Following the tip, UP cops allegedly entered Uttarakhand in plain clothes without informing the Uttarakhand Police about their operation.

Moradabad DIG Shalabh Mathur told NDTV that the locals allegedly stopped policemen from conducting a search. So much so that they held policemen hostage and also snatched their weapons.

Reportedly, the cops resisted locals’ effort to overpower them and this allegedly led to a gunfight in which Bhullar’s wife Gurpreet Kaur was shot.

UP police alleged that locals fired at them from the terrace of Bhullar’s house.
SSP Moradabad Hemant Kutiyal told Dainik Jagran that Zafar was indeed hiding at Bhullar’s house and the locals made him flee the spot after firing at the cops.

The incident led to grievious injuries to the SHO Thakur Dwara who was leading the operation along with five more cops and Bhullar’s wife. All injured persons were rushed to the nearby hospital where doctors pronounced Gurpreet dead while other received treatment for bullet wounds, injuries and fractures, reports say.

Following Gurpreet’s death, Bhullar and his supporters staged a protest on Wednesday night disrupting traffic on the main road.

What police say?

Manjunath TC, Senior Superintendent of Police in Udham Singh Nagar told reporters that an FIR was lodged against 10-12 persons including the Moradabad cops in the relevant IPC sections of murder, rioting and attempt to murder.
Meanwhile, UP police also lodged an FIR at Thakur Dwara police station against 30-35 unknown people for firing at policemen.

SSP further added that UP police officials did not inform the Uttarakhand police about their search operation. “Detailed investigation in the matter is underway, forensic team was sent to collect circumstantial evidences including the bullet cartridges,” he said.

What was the operation?

Moradabad police informed that their operation was in connection to an alleged attack on SDM Thakur Dwara Parmanad Singh, Mining Inspector Ashok Kumar and his team on September 13.

The officers, police said had intercepted a fleet of five trucks that were allegedly transporting illegally acquired minerals from Kashipur-Thakur Dwara road. The assailants who were later found to be Zafar’s men reportedly attacked on the team and managed to rescue four trucks from police custody, police said.

Health update

Among the injured cops, Rahul Singh and Shiv Kumar are in critical condition as they were shot in the gunfight. Others including Shiv Kumar, Sumit Rathi, Sangam and Anil Kumar are getting treatment for bullet injuries, said DIG. All injured cops are admitted in Cosmos hospital in Jaspur.

(With inputs from agencies)

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