In a shocking incident, a Punjab Police official shot a person following a scuffle at a checkpoint in Habetpur village of Derabassi district. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media in which the cop can be seen shooting a man after few people attacked him. According to news agency PTI, the sub-inspector was suspended after the incident came to light. The purported video of the incident which surfaced on the internet showed a man scuffling with the policeman who then fires a single shot at the man's thighs.
The incident took place on Sunday night after police was trying to search a woman’s bag at a check post near Habetpur village.
The injured man, identified as Hitesh Kumar (24), was immediately rushed to a Civic hospital and later doctors referred him to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh.
The woman had an argument with Sub-Inspector (SI) Balwinder Singh and called some of her relatives following which they entered into an altercation with the cops, Punjab Police said. Later, the Senior Superintendent of Police (Mohali) Vivek Sheel Soni ordered registration of an FIR against Singh and placed him under suspension.
The SSP also informed that a departmental action against three police personnel present on the spot was also initiated.
“We were standing on Hebatpur road when a police party arrived and misbehaved with us. They wanted to check my wife’s bag. They were drunk and they fired upon my brother," Akshay, the brother of the victim told news agency ANI.
The victim and his relatives even alleged that the cop was drunk and an opened fire in a fit of rage.
The video of the incident was even shared by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga who attacked the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government and said that the policemen could have caught hold of the man, but they shot at him instead.
"In Derabassi, Punjab Police manhandled a woman and shot her husband when he resisted. After Arvind Kejriwal came to power, Punjab Police has stopped treating Punjab citizens as human beings. So many policemen could have caught a man if they wanted to, but he was shot," Bagga tweeted.
"The development came after the SI, who along with the police team was conducting a routine checking, fired at the leg of a person identified as Hitesh Kumar following a scuffle with some individuals on the night of June 26," Punjab Police said in a statement.
Additionally, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Mohali SSP has been constituted to investigate the incident and submit the final report.