A Delhi police head constable was killed and two others seriously injured when assailants opened fire inside a courtroom in East Delhi’s Karkardooma Court on Wednesday morning. At least four boys were detained from the spot.
Metropolitan magistrate Sunil Gupta also had a close shave as one of the bullets scraped past his chair and hit the wall behind, said the police.
The deceased cop, identified as HC Ram Kanwar Meena, posted at Delhi police’s third battalion and is entrusted with the transport of undertrials between courts and prisons, was reportedly hit by four bullets, one of them in his chest.
The Delhi government has announced a compensation of '1 crore for the family of the deceased policeman. The injured persons included the undertrial, Sheenu alias Chhaini Pehalwan, a history-sheeter who was being escorted, said a police official.
Undertrial Sheenu and another constable sustained two bullet injuries each and were admitted to a hospital, where Meena was declared brought dead, said the official. The assailants, of which some are suspected to be minors, fired around ten rounds. The four youth detained so far belong to Northeast Delhi’s Seelampur and nearby areas.
From their questioning, it has emerged that Sheenu, who has numerous cases registered against him at different districts of the national capital, had allegedly killed a member of the attackers’ gang in South Delhi. The police are also looking for another youth who is believed to be a co-accused and some lawyers had seen him video graphing the firing inside the courtroom, said police.
“A case of murder has been registered and several teams are working on it. Four persons have been detained at the police post inside the court premises and they are being questioned,” said a senior police officer. The police are also investigating as to how the assailants managed to get inside the court with firearms.
