Uttarakhand cops deny Uttar Pradesh’s claim of crossfire after botched raid

A day after at least 10 Uttar Pradesh policemen were booked on charges of murder after a woman died during a raid in neighbouring Uttarakhand, the state police on Friday denied UP cops’ claim of an exchange of fire at the site.

The incident took place late on Wednesday when a team of Moradabad Police raided Uttarakhand BJP leader Gurtaj Bhullar’s farm house in Bharatpur village of US Nagar district, after receiving a tip off that a wanted criminal, Mohammed Jafar, was hiding there. Bhullar’s wife Gurjeet Kaur was shot dead in the incident.

Both the state police departments have filed complaints in connection with the case. The Uttarakhand police has booked 10-12 UP policemen under several sections, including murder, while the UP police has filed a case against Jafar and at least 30 unidentified people for taking hostage, beating, firing at and deterring public servants from performing duties.

On Friday, the Uttarakhand police ruled out any evidence of crossfire at the farmhouse, while the UP police insisted that the an exchange of fire ensued when they reached the farmhouse, which left the woman dead and six of their personnel injured.

“We have found no evidence of cross firing. During our investigation, there were no bullet marks on walls and vehicles,” a forensic department official, who inspected the site, said.

Three service pistols and 9 mm empty cartridges have been recovered from the crime scene, said an official, adding that the woman’s post-mortem report is awaited.

“It would only be clear who fired the shot that killed Gurjeet Kaur after the post-mortem report and forensic results,” said senior superintendent of police (US Nagar), Manjunath TC.

Another official familiar with the matter said Kaur was hit in the chest from a close range. The bullet tore through the body, indicating that the shot was fired from a close range, the official said.

“We are probing the case from all angles and taking into consideration the accounts of both parties. The victim’s family can say that she was shot by the UP police. However, it’s a fact that two UP police personnel also sustained bullet injuries,” he added.

DIG (Kumaon) Nilesh Anand Bharne said it would take around 15 days to establish who fired the shot.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh police has dismissed that they fired without any provocation.

“Jafar and his associates, who were trying to protect him, attacked our team and opened fire on them. Our six police personnel sustained injuries and two of them have bullet wounds. How can they sustain injuries without any exchange of fire?” said senior superintendent of police (Moradabad ), Hemant Kutiyal.

Contradicting the Uttarakhand police’s claims that they conducted the raids without informing their counterparts, the SSP said that the Moradabad police constantly kept them in the loop. “When the Moradabad police team reached there, Jafar was taken into custody. Later, the villagers forcibly took him away,” the SSP said.

Asserting that their Moradabad team raided Bhullar’s farmhouse based on a tip-off that Jafar was taking shelter there, a UP police official familiar with the matter said Bhullar, his father Sukhbinder Singh alias Chindar Singh and two uncles Jagtar Singh and Satnam Singh alias Satta have previously been booked in several cases.