Noida (Uttar Pradesh): It was scene straight out of a Hindi movie. A woman passenger held hostage in an auto-rickshaw by its driver and his accomplice. The auto-rickshaw is then chased down by the police. A gunfight takes place then leaving the driver and his accomplice injured. Finally, the police rescuing the woman who looked quite shaky after the incident. All this happened here Wednesday
The gunfight broke out around 1.00am in the Knowledge Park police station area. The 19-year-old woman had hailed the auto-rickshaw from Surajpur to go to Pari Chowk. She was supposed to take a bus from there to Agra but got forcibly held by the auto driver and his friend, police said.
“The local police had set up a checkpoint on Hindon Pusta road. The station officer of the Knowledge Park police station intercepted an auto-rickshaw and signalled it to stop,” Greater Noida’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Vishal Pandey said.
“The auto driver, however, sped away while the police team heard a woman crying for help from inside the vehicle. They chased it then,” the officer informed.
As the police team closed in on them, the driver stopped the auto-rickshaw and he and his accomplice opened fire at the police team. At this, the police fired back, in which the duo suffered bullet injuries in their legs, the officer said. The woman was rescued while the accused were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The accused have been identified as Nadeem, a native of Bijnor, and Imran, a Greater Noida resident, both in their early 20s. Illegal firearms were also seized from their possession, the police said. Initial probe revealed that Nadeem has previously been booked for molesting women in Greater Noida, they said.
A fresh FIR has been lodged against them at the Knowledge Park police station under IPC section 307 (murder attempt) and the Arms Act. The accused were produced in the afternoon before a local court, which remanded them in judicial custody, said a police official.
