A day after an eight-year-old boy died in cross-firing between police and a gang of criminals in Mathura, two constables, Saurabh Sharma and Udham Singh, have been suspended for failing to immediately attend to the boy after he was struck by a stray bullet. Police said the boy, identified as Madhav, was playing in a nearby park when a bullet fired by the gangsters hit him.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to his family, said Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar, adding that an inquiry has been ordered into the incident by IG, Agra Range, Raja Shrivastav.
Circle Officer (CO), Mathura, Vinay Chauhan, said, “Acting on information that an accused, Manoj, who was involved in a loot case last week, was at Mohanpur village, a police team rushed to spot. Seeing the police, the group opened fire and the team fired back in retaliation. A bullet fired by the assailants hit the boy on the head. He was playing near the spot. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died.”
The CO further said that the gang managed to escape and that the bullet that hit Madhav, who was from a family of farmers, came from the gang’s end.