Gun goes off in cash van, guard in Lucknow dies

LUCKNOW A guard of a cash loading van died after his rifle reportedly went off accidentally in the vehicle when an ATM machine at the Bakshi ka Talab (BKT) market was being refilled here on Tuesday afternoon, said police officials. They said preliminary investigation suggested that the man was shot while he was sitting in the van and succumbed to his injuries on way to a hospital.

The deceased was identified as Chhote Lal Verma, 50, a resident of Sitapur. The incident occurred when he, along with four other employees of a cash management agency, including another gunman Ravi Kant, driver Vineet Bajpai, cashier Nitin Raju and assistant cashier Atul Verma, reached the Bank of India ATM booth in BKT market to refill cash in the machine around 11.30 am, said Abhijit R Shankar, ADCP (North).

The ADCP said Verma went to drink water kept inside the van while the other four employees were engaged in refilling the ATM. “As per other employees, they heard a bullet sound and saw Verma lying in a pool of blood inside the van. It seems the gun went off accidentally when the gunman was drinking water while further investigation is on. The man was shot in the neck and a bullet shell was recovered from the spot,” he said.

The police took digital video recorder of the CCTV camera installed inside the van for probe. The forensic team was also called to examine the spot and analyse how the gun went off. The body of the deceased was sent for a post-mortem examination after information of the incident was given to the deceased’s family, he said.