The wife of a local BJP leader was killed and five others injured when residents of an Uttarakhand village clashed with an Uttar Pradesh Police team that had arrived there to arrest a man accused of illegal sand mining, an official said.
Four of the injured are personnel of UP Police, two of them with gunshot wounds, the police said.
The clash on Wednesday night took place in Bharatpur village near Kashipur in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district. The policemen had come from adjacent Moradabad district looking for Jafar, alleged to be a member of a mining mafia.
Acting on a tip-off, a Special Operations Group (SOG) of Thakurdwara police station in Moradabad district reached Bharatpur to raid the house of BJP leader and Jaspur senior block pramukh Gurtaj Bhullar in search of Jafar, UP Police said.
When they reached Bhullar's house, an argument broke out. Both sides allegedly resorted to firing in which Bhullar's wife Gurpreet, who was returning home from work, was killed.
Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manjunath TC said the Uttar Pradesh Police team did not inform their Uttarakhand counterparts about the action in advance.
Following the incident, angry villagers blocked the highway in protest. Kashipur MLA Trilok Singh Cheema, Gadarpur MLA Arvind Pandey and former MP Balraj Passi joined the protesters.
The blockade was lifted at 11 pm after persuasion by the district police.
"Uttarakhand Police has registered a case against Uttar Pradesh Police personnel under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code following a complaint lodged by the deceased's family", Manjunath said.
Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police Hemant Kutiyal said four injured policemen had been admitted to a private hospital in Moradabad.
Hospital sources said "two policemen suffered gunshot wounds to their legs, one a head wound and another bone injuries".
"They are all out of danger", the sources added.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Moradabad, Shalabh Mathur told that "the Thakurdwara police team was on the lookout for Jafar. On Wednesday night, the police received information that Jafar was hiding at the house of the Jaspur block pramukh".
"The police team reached the spot acting on this information but it was fired upon from the other side. Two police personnel sustained bullet injuries on their leg and a total four personnel, including the Station House Officer (SHO), were injured," Mathur said.
Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police Hemant Kutiyal said "the operation was so quick and urgent that UP Police could not formally inform its Uttarakhand counterparts".
Kutuyal also blamed the block pramukh and his aides for attacking the police and snatching their weapons.
"We have registered a case against the block pramukh and his aides at Thakurdwara police station under relevant sections," said the officer.
Additional Director General of Police (Barailly Zone) Rajkumar has reached Moradabad and is looking into the matter.
