In a late night incident, the Hubballi Dharwad Police fired at a rape and POCSO case accused after he allegedly attacked them with a penknife and tried to escape. A police inspector and constable suffered stab injuries in the attack.
According to Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar, the incident happened while the accused Saddam Hussain Limbuvale was being brought to the police station for further procedures in the case.
The police had nabbed him on Friday night following a complaint of forcefully impregnating a minor Dalit girl and issuing life threats to the family. The mother, a resident of Amargol in Hubballi, had filed the complaint after her daughter told her about the alleged forceful physical relationship and after the accused threatened her with dire consequences on Friday.
This commissioner said that when the accused was about to be taken to the police station in a jeep on the outskirts of Sutagatti in Hubballi around 11.30 p.m. on Friday, he took out a penknife which he had hidden in his clothes and first stabbed constable Arun on his shoulder. When inspector Sangamesh tried to grab him, the accused stabbed him on the knee and ankle forcing the inspector to first fire in the air to warn him. When it became clear that the accused would run away, the inspector fired him on his leg, she said.
At present, all three are being treated at the hospital and their condition is stable.
The Police Commissioner said another case would be booked against the accused for the assault on the police and further investigation was under way.
