UP: Open fire in courtroom kills murder accused

Assailants on Tuesday opened fire in a courtroom in Bijnor, killing a murder accused and injuring two policemen, officials said.

They said that another murder accused managed to escape from the spot, taking advantage of the commotion.

They said that among the three assailants arrested after the attack in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court was the son of the man murdered six months back.

The incident occurred when the three entered into the courtroom and showered bullets on two accused in the murder of a property dealer, Haji Ehsaan, and his nephew in Najibabad area of the district.

Both were brought to the CJM court for hearing from Tihar jail in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon when the assailants fired at them, leaving main accused Shahnawaz dead, SP Sanjeev Tyagi said.

Superintendent of Police (City) Laxmi Niwas Misra said Shahnawaz's co-accused Jabbar managed to escape taking advantage of the commotion after the shootout.

One of the policemen was referred to Meerut hospital where he was out of danger and Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Yogesh Kumar escaped unhurt, the SP said.

The SP said Haji Ehsaan's son was among those arrested.

The incident prompted Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav to attack the Yogi Adityanath government on the law and order situation.

"The daylight murder of an accused in front of a judge in Bijnor shows how much impact 'encounter wali sarkar' has on criminals. When the honourable judge has to flee to save his life, the talk of security for common man has no meaning. This is the state of double engine government," Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

In Lucknow, Director General of Police OP Singh termed the incident the outcome of a "rivalry in which a son took revenge of his father's killing" and said that all the three accused were arrested with their weapons by the police.

"They were chased by policemen and nabbed with three fine quality pistols," he said, adding that a probe is on in the matter.

About the occurrence of such an incident in court premises, the DGP said, "We will review the security of courts."