Man who killed Punjab cop shot

Sanjiv Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, March 18

The criminal who allegedly killed a Punjab Police constable during a raid at his house in Mansoorpur village of Mukerian in Hoshiarpur was today gunned down in an encounter with the police on the Jalandhar-Pathankot road near here, officials said.

Constable Amritpal Singh had died of a bullet wound to the chest on Sunday when Sukhwinder Singh, alias Rana Mansoorpuria, opened fire at a police team that was out to arrest him after suspecting his involvement in a criminal case. Rana was convicted in an NDPS case and was facing trial in several criminal cases.

The encounter took place near Purana Bhangala village, about 20 km from Mansoorpur. The area had been cordoned off since Sunday afternoon and when the police moved closer to Rana, an exchange of fire took place around 6.20 pm and he was fatally shot, the officials said.

An extensive search operation was launched in Mansoorpur and its surrounding areas to locate Rana after the attack on the police party. On Sunday, his location was traced near Gagad village under Hajipur police station. The police searched for him the entire night even as Rana kept commuting short distances, taking help from villagers and riding on their bikes. Even today, he was spotted on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway, taking a bike to a filling station with a youth riding pillion, said the officials. SSP Surendra Lamba said they had got leads in the case that someone had dropped Rana in the jungles of Hajipur. “Twenty teams led by three SPs and six DSPs were there searching for him. Around 5 pm, we got specific lead, following which Rana was surrounded and killed in the encounter after he refused to surrender,” said Lamba.