Two killed in Saharanpur encounter, two traders rescued

The killed men were identified as 32-year-old Om Pal and 30-year-old Sumit alias Vicky, both carrying a reward of Rs 50,000. Two police officers were also injured in the incident.

According to Sarsawan police station house officer (SHO) Adesh Kumar Tyagi, the duo had kidnapped Umesh Gujjar and Tulsi while they were on their way home on Saturday evening in Sorana village. A ransom call was made to Umesh’s family who informed the police.

“They had used Umesh’s phone to make the ransom call. Based on this, police managed to trace the location of the phone to Ibrahmi village, five kilometres away. A police team went to the village and took position there on Sunday morning. Seeing the police, the accused fired at the team and police returned fire in self-defence. Four persons were injured in the incident,” said Tyagi.

The injured were sent to hospital where doctors declared Pal and Vicky dead. Sub-inspector Dushyant and constable Rajneesh Tomar are being treated for their injuries and police said their condition was stable.

Meanwhile, the kidnapped persons were returned to their families.

Pal’s identity was ascertained through a voter ID that was recovered, said Saharanpur SSP Upendra Kumar Agarwal. Vicky was identified by police who were looking out for him.

Om Pal had 33 criminal cases against him, while Vicky had 18 cases. Police claimed to have recovered a motorcycle, three countrymade pistols and jewellery from them.

The SHO said that Pal and Vicky were wanted in the kidnapping and murder of businessmen Subhash Rana and Usman. Subhash was murdered around two months back while Usman was killed on August 29.