Rajkot, Oct 17 A suspect involved in a Rs 1.53-crore gold robbery and murder case in Gujarat’s Rajkot city was shot in the leg after he opened fire on a police team during evidence recovery at the crime scene, an official said on Saturday.
The accused, Anurag Singh Rajput, had been taken to an area under the Airport police station jurisdiction for evidence recovery on Friday evening when he grabbed a weapon discarded at the scene and fired two rounds at the officers, prompting a sub-inspector to retaliate in self-defence, DCP (Zone 2) Rakesh Desai said.
He said that Rajput was among 10 accused arrested for gunning down an employee of a precious metal refinery during a robbery on October 14.
Desai said that apart from the primary weapon used in the robbery and murder, the accused had managed to conceal another weapon at the same place, which the police were unaware of, and he used it to fire two rounds at the police team.
“Acting in self-defence, sub-inspector Vanrajsinh Dodiya fired one round, striking the accused in the leg,” the DCP said, adding that no police personnel had sustained any injuries during this incident.
The injured accused was shifted to the civil hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.
According to the police, Laljibhai Sardhara (53), an employee of Tanvi Exports India Ltd, a gold and silver refinery, was shot and killed by the accused when he resisted their attempt to steal a bag containing gold bars weighing 946 grams, valued at approximately Rs 1.48 crore, and two kg of refined silver dust powder worth Rs 4.3 lakh.
The accused grabbed the bag and fled in the car.
A case was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Arms Act and the Gujarat Police Act, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Jagdish Bangarwa said that the accused hail from Uttar Pradesh and they were apprehended with the help of the Rajasthan police.
(PTI News)
