Bhopal: Two policemen were stabbed and severely injured by a band of hooligans in Hamidia Hospital around midnight on Thursday. One of the cops had a deep gash ripped down the entire length of his back, which took 50 stitches to seal.
“These are policemen, get the knives,” the attackers said, when confronted by head constable Vijay Yadav, 43, and constable Vijay Bahadur, 30, for creating a ruckus at the hospital. Five of six suspects were arrested on Friday and paraded in front of Koh-e-Fiza police station.
Joint teams of police and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished encroachments of the houses of three of the accused in Shahjehanabad and Gautam Nagar, and evicted a fourth from his rented house.
Yadav and Bahadur were put on special duty in civil dress at the hospital following complaints of vehicle theft, said CSP Nagendra Pateria. Around 11.45pm, Yadav got to know that a group of youths, who had come in an SUV, was creating a ruckus in front of the emergency ward.
Accused were drunk, high: Police
The two plainclothesmen ran to the spot. The hoodlums seemed to be drunk and ‘high’, said police. Bahadur began asking the youths for their names and addresses, which enraged them.They got out of the SUV and began hurling abuses. According to the injured cops, one of the hoodlums shouted to his friends to “take out knives”.
The six of them fell upon the two cops. Police say Ashu alias Aashir Shah stabbed Bahadur in the back and arm. When Yadav intervened, he was stabbed in the hand.
The goons went on attacking the injured cops, and may have killed them but for a Dial100 patrol that arrived in the nick of time. Spotting the police team, the six jumped into the SUV and sped away.
The two cops were taken to hospital, where both are stable. It took 50 stitches to sew up Bahadur’s back injury. Acting on Yadav’s complaint, the CSP said, police rounded up five of the six accused -- Haider, a resident of Nariyalkhera in Gautam Nagar, Arsalan, of DIG Bungalow Square in Gautam Nagar, Ali from Shahjehanabad, and Ashu and Zaid from Idgah Hills. A sixth accused, Mudassir alias Muddu alias Ghungroo, of Karond Nishatpura, is on the run. They have been booked for attempted murder and injuring a public servant to deter him from discharging his duty.
According to ASP (Zone-3) RS Mishra, the accused have told police that they met up on Thursday evening and went to Kaliyasot Dam in Haider’s SUV where they had liquor. They drove around the city and landed up at Hamidia hospital around midnight to have tea.
Mishra said police and BMC demolished illegal encroachments of Haider, Arsalan and Ali’s houses, while Ashu was evicted from his rented place. Zaid and Mudassir’s details are being investigated and action will be taken against them too, said police. Illegal kiosks on Karbala Road in Koh-e-Fiza, where criminal elements used to gather at night, were razed too.
