Trigger-happy criminals make patrolling Delhi borders at night perilous: Police

In less than a month, the streets of Delhi have witnessed two encounters after a lull of almost four years.

The last major encounter in the capital was the controversial Batla House encounter in September 2008, an operation carried out by the Special Cell.

Last month, a man, alleged to be a member of a gang of cattle lifters, was shot down by police in an encounter on Outer Ring Road.

Police said they chased the gang for over 40 minutes and began shooting only after the gang fired on them.

Police said the two encounters were a result of repeated attacks on police personnel by various gangs in the capital over the past one year. They said patrolling the border areas of Delhi at night was becoming a dangerous affair, with trigger-happy criminal turning on the personnel.

On February 7, a wanted criminal, Satender Kala from the Sandeep Chitaniya gang, shot at Constable Devender from the Special Cell during a raid at Rithala Bhadawa Road.

However, the constable escaped unhurt and Satender was nabbed. He carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh declared by the Haryana and the Delhi Police.

According to police, in the past one year, four policemen have died after being shot at by criminals during operations in the city and NCR.

In November last year, 48-year-old Delhi Police Head Constable Ram Kishen was shot dead by a gang in Kanjhawala when he asked them to get out of the car for a routine checking.

"On January 18, a man named Yakub was gunned down by police on Outer Ring Road. Yakub, who was part of a gang of cattle lifters, first shot at the police party. Just two days before that encounter, a similar gang of cattle thieves was intercepted at Shahbad Dairy in Outer Delhi. On being stopped by police, those thieves pelted stones at the police party, damaging a PCR van, and crashed their truck into the van, leaving two police personnel injured," a senior police officer said.

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