2 wanted smugglers injured, cop shot, 1 arrested in Gurugram police encounter

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the Sector 65 crime branch team received information about three armed men planning to commit a robbery

Two most-wanted interstate drug smugglers and a policeman were injured in an exchange of fire with a crime branch team in Gurugram’s Sector 62 late Friday, police said on Saturday.

The suspects were identified as Marfat alias Maru (32) and Phool Babu Sheikh (26), both residents of Bali in Murshidabad district, and Shrikul Sheikh (37), a resident of Mira Plassey in Nadia district, West Bengal.

Police said Marfat and Phool sustained bullet injuries to their legs, while the policeman sustained a bullet injury to his arm. Shrikul was arrested at the spot after a chase. The other two suspects will be formally arrested after doctors declare them medically fit.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the Sector 65 crime branch team received information about three armed men planning to commit a robbery.

“Acting on the tip-off, the team set up a checkpoint on the road from Nangli Umarpur to Sector 62 when the trio arrived there at 11pm but fled after opening fire on the police team as soon as they were signalled to stop,” he said.

“Crime branch sleuths chased and intercepted them almost after a kilometre when the suspects opened fire again. One of the bullets hit a police vehicle and another injured a cop,” he said.

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Investigators said the crime branch team retaliated, leaving Marfat and Phool injured. The suspects fired six rounds and the police fired three, officers said.

Police recovered 136 grams of MDMA, a pistol, a country-made firearm, an empty cartridge and a motorcycle from the suspects.

Police said Phool was wanted in a drug smuggling case and that Gurugram police had announced a reward for his arrest.

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Police said Marfat had four criminal cases registered against him involving assault, theft, fake currency and drug smuggling. Phool had two cases registered against him, while Shrikul had one drug smuggling case registered against him.

On the complaint of a crime branch official, an FIR was registered against the trio at Sector 65 police station on Saturday under Section 109(1) (attempt to murder) and other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Arms Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations. He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis. He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps. Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas. In the past, he worked for media houses like The Times of India, where he extensively reported on important government matters and daily proceedings at the Patna High Court. He has also worked in the electronic media and had done ground coverage on the Kedarnath deluge that wrecked Uttarakhand in 2013.Read More