Gun show at Ghaziabad police station to seek release of students who opened fire

Three Class 11 students were detained on Monday afternoon when they fired 10 rounds in the air outside their school in Modinagar, police said.

Hours after their arrest, the police said, three men reached the local police station with as many as nine guns, to allegedly pressure the police into releasing the minors. They were also arrested under different charges.

Police said the gun used by the students to fire outside their school belonged to one of the three arrested men.

A senior police officer familiar with the investigation said the three Class 11 students had an altercation with some Class 12 students during a Teachers Day function. They said the junior students raised some religious slogans during the event to which the senior secondary students objected. This led to a heated argument.

“The altercation was settled after some teachers intervened. In order to take their revenge, the three Class 11 students reached outside the school and fired 10 rounds in order to threaten their seniors. They tried to flee on a bike but were chased and apprehended by the police,” said AK Maurya, superintendent of police (rural).

The matter seemed to have been put to rest but by Monday night three men, one of whom claimed to be the ‘Mahamantri’ of Hindu Yuva Vahini, reached the police station seeking the students’ release. The three were identified as Amit Tyagi, his brother Jitender Tyagi and their private guard, Umesh Kumar.

Jitendra Tyagi, district president of Hindu Yuva Vahini, however, clarified that Amit Tyagi is not an office bearer of the organisation. “He is just a member and will be expelled,” Jitendra Tyagi said.

Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police (SSP), said they had reached the local police station in two cars. They were threatening the police to release the three students, he said. However, a search of their cars led to recovery a cache of illegal arms and bullet.

The police found three factory made pistols, costing around ₹3-4 lakh each, six countrymade pistols along with 100 live rounds of different calibre. Rounds of self loading rifles were also recovered from the Scorpio and Verna cars of the three accused, police said.

“Amit has nine criminal cases registered against him, including four cases of murder. He also has a history sheet in his name at Muradnagar police station. He is a member of Ravinder Bhaneda gang. A revolver licensed under his gunner Umesh’s name is being verified,” Krishna said.

Police sources said that the weapons were allegedly procured by Amit a year ago from two people in Meerut who were stated to be suppliers of illegal arms and are currently absconding. Jitender has three cases, including cases of murder and Gangster Act, against him, said officials.

The police have booked the three students under charges of attempt to murder, rioting and provisions of the Arms Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Amit Tyagi and his aides were booked under an FIR carrying IPC sections for rioting, preventing government servant from discharging his duties and also under the provisions of the Arms Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

“In both cases, the police registered the FIR on their own as no private person came forward with a complaint,” the SSP added.