Gang of cattle lifters busted, one dies in encounter, four arrested

Five cattle, weapons recovered

A man was shot dead in an encounter between his gang and the Delhi Police on Saturday morning in Outer Delhi's Lok Vihar area. Four members of the gang have been arrested.

Police said the men were cattle rustlers and were prowling the area, looking for cattle to steal.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) Tejinder Luthra said, "It was an intense encounter. We kept a strategic distance while chasing the accused. Otherwise, many of our personnel would have been killed when the men started firing."

According to police, a PCR call at 2 am informed them that the gang had stolen five cattle near KN Katju Marg and had fired bullets before leaving. At the time of the call, all ACPs and SHOs along with DCP (Outer) B S Jaiswal were on patrol.

Two cars of ACP (Alipur) Rajiv Ranjan Singh and ACP (Sultanpuri) Jasmeet Singh and a Tata 407 of sub-inspector Mukesh Antil began chasing the gang's van.

As many as 35 police vehicles followed the gang's Tata 407 at a distance, to avoid being crushed by them.

ACP Ranjan Singh spotted the vehicle first at KN Katju Marg and tried stopping it. But the van sped away, jumping traffic signals on the Outer Ring Road.

"The men continued firing at the police teams who fired in self-defence. Twenty-seven rounds were fired from the police's end. The Tata 407 was speeding and broke through barricades along the way, putting the life of police personnel manning those pickets in danger," Luthra said.

Police said the accused started firing from the front and rear of the van. One of the bullets hit Constable Balkar Singh, who was driving ACP Rajiv Ranjan's vehicle, on the shoulder. Police said the cattle lifters fired over 40 rounds at them.

... contd.

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