Noida (Uttar Pradesh) : Four suspected criminals were held after three separate incidents of gunfights with police in Noida and Greater Noida in less than six hours, officials said on Tuesday. Of the four criminals, three suffered gunshot injuries in the encounters and were hospitalised, according to police.
One of the encounters took place late Monday in Noida, while the other two occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in Noida and Greater Noida, they said.
In retaliatory firing, a 26-year-old man from Ghaziabad was injured and arrested from an area under the Sector-39 police station, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Noida-1, Rajneesh Verma said.
"The encounter took place around 9.30 pm (Monday) in the Sector-98 area. The accused, Shahrukh, is a wanted criminal active in NCR (National Capital Region) and has about over three dozen cases against him. He has been taken to a hospital for treatment," Verma said.
Around 12.15 am on Tuesday in the Phase-1 area, a Noida Sector-8 resident informed police that he was returning home when his phone was snatched by a scooter-borne man. "This snatcher was first intercepted by a police party at a checking barrier. However, he fled from there and managed to escape from another police barrier nearby. But a police team chasing him intercepted him in Sector-15A," , ACP, Noida-2, Sushil Kumar said said.
"He lost balance and fell from the scooter and started running away. He opened fire on the police team but got hit by a bullet on his leg in retaliatory firing by police, According to preliminary findings, the snatcher has been identified as Delhi-based 27-year-old Usman alias Ponta, who has around half a dozen criminal cases lodged against him, Kumar said.
An illegal country-made pistol along with some ammunition was seized from him while his scooter has been impounded, he said. In the third incident, two men aged 25 and 22 years, were held after a gunfight in the Jarcha police station area, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Dinesh Kumar Singh said.
"They were in a Haryana-registered Swift Dzire car. At a police check point, they were gestured to stop for inquiry, but they sped away. They were chased and surrounded by a police team. However, they opened fire on police, prompting a retaliatory action in which one of them got hurt," Singh said.
The duo has been identified as Keshav Sharma alias Golu and Pawan Singh alias Chhotu, both natives of Greater Noida, according to police. They both have confessed to being involved in crimes in the past but a detailed probe into their history is being carried out . Police said they have seized illegal country-made pistols and some ammunition from the duo and impounded the car. Further legal proceedings in all three cases are being carried out at respective police stations, they added. (with agency input)
