Ranchi: A female sub-inspector, Sandhya Topno, was mowed down to death by some cattle smugglers during a vehicle check on Tuesday night. Topno, who was from the 2018 batch was posted at Tupudana police station and was murdered while she was on duty. The accused has been arrested and the vehicle has been seized, informed the SSP of Ranchi.
The police were acting on the information that a pickup van carrying smuggled animals is in the vicinity at around midnight. Following the lead, Sandhya along with two other police personnel went on duty and started checking vehicles.
As part of the checking procedure, Sandhya stopped a pickup van after checking an Alto car. However, the van driver overpowered her and mowed her down thereby killing her on the spot. An eye-witness said that the SI raised her hand from a distance to stop the pickup van but the driver ran her over.
The police chased the pickup van which eventually overturned. Two accused are presently in police custody and are being interrogated. Sandhya Topno's body was brought to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi where the post-mortem was conducted. A case of murder has been registered after recording the statement of Sandhya's bodyguard. The police department has demanded a speedy trial against the accused.
"We got information from Tupudana OP area that a suspicious vehicle coming from Gumla is reaching Ranchi. Thus, a police check led by sub-inspector Sandhya Topno was deployed in the area. This incident happened with the Sub-Inspector while she was trying to stop this vehicle. After getting injured, she was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead. The vehicle has been taken into custody and the driver has been arrested too," Ranchi SSP Kishore Kaushal said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred a day after a deputy superintendent of police probing illegal mining was killed in Haryana's Nuh district when a truck he had signalled to stop drove into him. (With Agency inputs)
