Panic prevailed in Sector 20 when three murder accused opened fire at a team of Haryana police which was chasing them. The incident occurred in broad daylight when a police team from Ambala was trailing three accused who were on run after killing an undertrial in March. Beat constables of Chandigarh police along with Haryana cops managed to apprehend one of the accused after exchange of fire for half an hour while the other two escaped in their Verna car. No one was injured even as over a dozen rounds were fired in the air. The three were booked for murder of gangster Rakesh alias Bobby in the district court complex in Ambala on March 3 this year. Bobby,an undertrial in a murder case and involved in a gang war for the past several years,was shot dead as he was being taken for hearing in the Ambala court. The Haryana police had booked Govind,Vikram alias Bunty and Rakesh for the murder. The three who have been on the run since then were also involved in the double murder of Bobbys sister Ritu and her friend Ramesh in September 2009. On Friday,the Special Investigating Team of Ambala police got a tip-off that the three were to come to meet someone in Sector 32 hospital. A team comprising 12 Haryana police personnel was dispatched to Chandigarh to arrest the dreaded accused. The three accused had alighted from their Verna car (PB-11A-6397) in the Sector 32 hospital when one of the accused Rakesh saw the trailing cops and fired in the air to escape. Seeing them fire,the cops also retaliated and fired in the air. While Bunty and Rakesh succeeded to get into their car and sped away,Govind started running. With cops chasing him,he fired another seven to eight rounds at police. The cross-firing continued for some time as Govind ran towards the Sector 20/30 lightpoint. Two Chandigarh police constables who were on patrolling duty apprehended Govind near the park in Sector 20. A country-made pistol and six live rounds were recovered from the possession of Govind. The hunt for the other two accused is on. A large number of officials reached the spot and searched the area for bullets. The two Chandigarh police constables who managed to apprehend one of the accused are head constable Balkar Singh and constable Amit Yadav. Yadav said he fired six rounds in the air. The Haryana police have already announced a cash prize on the accused. The police said all the three accused were residing in Phase-VI of Mohali for last two months.
