Hisar, April 7
A jail guard, Havaldar Vijay Kumar Gulati, was shot dead on the Central Jail premises here this morning.
Three persons armed with revolvers were sitting under a tree inside the jail compound meant for visitors. They waited for Havaldar Gulati to come out of his official residence and approach the gate leading to the jail. As he passed by, all three of them fired at him. As the guard turned, one of the assailants again fired at his chest, injuring him. The assailants then caught hold of him and fired two shots through his mouth and head, killing him instantaneously.
The three assailants then fired in the air to scare the large number of visitors and armed policemen present there and ran towards the exit. They were challenged by a member of a police party from Fatehabad which had come here to take a prisoner for a court hearing. He fired several shots at the assailants, injuring one of them on the foot. Another policeman, Gumana Ram of the local CIA staff, grappled with the injured assailants and was shot at in the process. His hand was injured but, he overpowered one of the assailants, who was later identified as Umed Singh.
Meanwhile, the two others ran towards a white Maruti car (HR 26/6563) parked outside the jail in which two of their accomplices were waiting for them. The four then escaped from the scene.
Inquiries by this correspondent revealed that the deceased had been receiving threats to his life for quite some time. The threat was first issued to him about three years ago, allegedly by a notorious criminal Rajbir Rathi, who was lodged in this jail at the time and had escaped along with four other prisoners. Two of them, including Rathi, were later arrested at Hanumangarh in Rajasthan. Rathi is alleged to have threatened to kill Havaldar Gulati at that time. Rathi was later shifted to the Rohtak jail from where he later escaped.
Four of the assailants have been identified as Umed Singh and Manoj of Rohtak district, Vikram of Sonipat district and Satbir Dhillon of Hisar district. It is suspected that the fifth one was Rajbir Rathi.
The injured assailants Umed Singh, and Havaldar Gumana Ram have been admitted to the local General Hospital. Meanwhile, security inside the jail has been beefed up following the incident.
The police has registered a case against six persons in this connection. The sixth accused has been identified as Ishwar Singh of Meham in Rohtak district. The case has been registered under Sections 302, 307, 148 and the Arms Act.
