Police was looking for Murtaza Sheikh when he attacked a constable and stabbed him.
Chennai:
A 28-year-old man accused of theft was shot dead on Monday in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district, about 75 km from Chennai.
Investigators have identified him as Murtuja Sheikh from Jharkhand. His associate has also been arrested. Police claim Sheikh was “shot in self-defense”. Armed with a knife and pistol, he attempted to kill a soldier.
On Sunday, the 28-year-old and his associate allegedly snatched a gold chain from a woman in Sriperumbudur near a lake, police said. When his family members and locals confronted him, one of them – carrying a weapon – ran into the bushes. The police hastily blocked all the roads.
While a search operation was launched immediately, the aide Akhtar was arrested on Monday.
The police were still on the lookout for Sheikh, the main accused, when he attacked a constable – Mohanraj – and attacked him with a knife.
Range DIG Satya Priya said, “He also had a country-made pistol and tried to kill the sub-inspector when he was shot dead by the injured officer.”
Asked whether the police should have tried to stabilize him by shooting him below his knee, the senior officer said: “His life was at risk. He could not do that.”
Describing the massive operation, Satya Priya said, “We had deployed a large number of police personnel, including teams from neighboring Tiruvallur. Even drones were used. We did it at night. Entire area was surrounded”.
While human rights activists are planning to raise the issue after a fact finding report from the ground up, the first police encounter under the new DMK government comes amid the recent arrests of 3,325 murder accused in the state under “Operation Disarm”. 1,110 knives and guns – obtained illegally – were confiscated.
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