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Two persons, including a traffic constable, were injured after a double-barrel gun of a private security guard went off accidentally, police said.
The incident occurred around 12noon on Friday, when the gun of Birender Singh Prasad, the security guard at the SP Verma Road branch of Central Bank of India, misfired. Prasad, 60, was taken into custody and has been charged with carelessness.
“SP Verma Road is a busy thoroughfare and policemen were stationed at the road near the bank to manage the traffic. A van carrying cash had come from Reserve Bank of India located near Gandhi Maidan and the guard (Prasad) was in the bank to look after the money,” an officer at Kotwali police station said.
“After the boxes containing the cash were transferred to the bank, the guard and some other people returned to the vehicle and were laughing over a joke when suddenly the gun with the guard went off. The bullets pierced through the van and the splinters hit two persons, who were standing near the vehicle. One of them was a traffic constable, identified as Raj Narayan, and the other was a fruit seller, Vikas Kumar,” he added.
The officer further said both of them collapsed after being hit by the splinters. “The gunshot attracted a lot of people, who crowded the place and the police were called,” he added. The two injured men were rushed to nearby Ruban Hospital and their condition is said to be stable.
“The guard was carrying a weapon with him and he needed to be very careful. This can be said to be the result of a careless attitude and he has been taken into custody. Central Bank of India had directly recruited the guard and his weapon has a licence. It was a lucky escape for the two as the accident could have been more serious. The police are questioning the guard on why the gun was not in lock mode. Bank officials are also being quizzed,” Aman Kumar, the station house officer of the Kotwali police station, said.
“I was at the same place when I heard the gunshot. Initially I thought a tyre had burst. Later, when I saw people running towards the spot of occurrence, I realised what had happened,” Ajay Kumar, an eyewitness, said.
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