Meerut: An additional district and sessions court in Sambhal on Monday sentenced a 45-year-old man to life imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 1.6 lakh on him for looting a govt rifle and shooting dead two police constables during an attack on a prison van in Sambhal district in 2019.
The incident dates back to July 17, 2019, when a prison van carrying 24 inmates – 21 old and three new accused – was on its way from Chandausi court to Moradabad jail, according to the case details. He said Shakeel and Kamal, carrying rewards of Rs 2.5 lakh each, were later killed in separate police encounters. “The trio had earlier abducted a man in Moradabad and secured a ransom of Rs 20 lakh for releasing him. They had been arrested in that case and Rs 18 lakh was recovered from them,” the prosecutor said, adding that the accused attacked the prison van while proceedings in the kidnapping and ransom case were nearing completion.
Special public prosecutor Aditya Kumar Singh said Dharampal Singh was produced before additional district judge Avdhesh Kumar Singh at the Chandausi court from Moradabad jail and sent back after the verdict. “Dharampal and his aides Shakeel and Kamal intercepted the van and threw red chilli powder into the eyes of constables Brajpal Singh and Harendra Singh, before snatching a govt rifle and shooting both constables dead,” the prosecutor said. A police officer was also injured in the arm during the encounter,” Singh said, adding that Kamal was later killed in an encounter in Amroha.
“Shakeel was gunned down in an exchange of fire with a police team in a forested area near Molanpur village under Rajpura police station in Sambhal.