Crime Beat

Cricket match stampede after constable fires in airA Delhi Police constable was suspended after he fired several rounds in the air during a ...

Cricket match stampede after constable fires in air

A Delhi Police constable was suspended after he fired several rounds in the air during a cricket match in Narela on Saturday.

The incident was sparked off by the organisers’ decision to grant a walkover to a team from Naraina when their rivals failed to arrive on time.

Story continues below this ad

The latter — a team from Narela protested against the decision and this led to a `pitch’ battle between both the sides.

One of the organisers, Devender — who is also a close friend of Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma’s nephews who were arrested last month took out his revolver and fired three shots in the air.

However, this only aggravated the situation. The Narela team included two players who are constables in the Delhi Police. While Anil Rana is a head constable in the police control room, Pratap Singh is a constable in the North-West district crime cell.

Another constable Suneh Singh from the Crime branch was a bystander. Soon after Devender started firing, Pratap Singh too whipped out his service revolver and let loose a volley of shots. This resulted in a stampede and both Devender and Anil Rana suffered serious injuries. However, no one was hit by the bullets.

Story continues below this ad

While Devender has been discharged from the hospital, Anil is still recuperating. On the other hand, Pratap Singh, who is absconding, has been placed under suspension.

2 injured in cylinder blast

Nine persons, including an eight-day-old child, were injured when a gas cylinder burst at Kartar Nagar (Gali no. 11) under in North-East Delhi on Monday afternoon. All the injured have been rushed to LNJP hospital.According to area DCP S.B.K. Singh, the condition of two women – Shashi and Meera Dubey (26) – is stated to be critical. The two have received 95 and 85 per cent burns respectively and are stated to be in critical condition at the hospital.

The incident took place at 3 p.m. in the densely populated Chutha Pusta area in Kartar Nagar, Singh said. Though the reason of blast is to be ascertained, he said the police have registered a case of negligence against Santosh and Ramakat, Meera’s husband, who were allegedly filling cooking gas from a big cylinder to smaller one.