ASI shot dead in Punjab

An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Punjab Police was shot dead by unidentified persons, suspected to be members of a drug mafia near the Delhi-Jalandhar National Highway here, police said today.
Gurdev Singh (50) was on traffic patrol duty when he confronted a person who was allegedly taking drugs inside a hotel and was shot dead while chasing him last night, they said.
Earlier the ASI and his police party heard some sound from a bathroom of a hotel where they had gone to eat food after checking a nearby petrol pump, Kapurthala SSP Inderbir Singh said today.
A Head constable went to the bathroom and heard a sound as if somebody was taking some drugs there and told the ASI about it, the SSP said.

"When the person suspected of creating that sound came out, the ASI enquired about the sound. At this the person started running and the ASI chased him. Three accomplices of the person also joined him and one of them opened fire almost from point blank range," he said.
Two bullets hit Singh's chest and he was declared brought dead by doctors here, he added.

The police party also fired about ten rounds in self defence, he said, adding that it can not be said if someone from the assailants was injured in that fire.
Meanwhile, the four persons escaped in their Verna car, police added.

Phagwara SP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh today said that the body of the ASI was brought to local Civil hospital for post-mortem.
A case under Sections 302 (murder) of IPC had been registered against the four unknown persons, he said.
IG Jalandhar Zone Gurpreet Deo, DIG Jalandhar Range Lok Nath Angra and other senior officers visited the site.
They said that police parties had been dispatched to various parts of the state in search of the accused.