JOIN USAmid allegations of failure of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, two police constables were allegedly shot dead by unidentified assailants in state’s Ferozabad district, about 300 km from here.
The cops came under fire from two motorbike-borne assailants late on Sunday night in Ramgarh area in the district while the duo were on a routine patrolling, according to the police sources here on Monday.
A violent mob later blocked the traffic on the busy National Highway and indulged in stone pelting, damaging several vehicles and wounding a DIG rank official, they said.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said the cops were killed in an encounter with criminals and announced an ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased.
The families of the two cops, however, alleged that they had been murdered and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
The opposition leaders condemned the killings and said that they reflected total breakdown of law and order in the state.