A young woman sub-inspector was crushed to death by a pickup van allegedly ferrying smuggled cattle in Ranchi early on Wednesday, a day after another cop investigating illegal stone mining in Haryana’s Nuh was killed in similar manner by a truck he had tried to stop.
Sandhya Topno, 30, and two constables had tried to flag down the pickup at Tupudana around 3am after receiving information that a vehicle transporting “prohibited animals” had broken through police barricades at Simdega and Gumla. Cow slaughter is banned in Jharkhand.
“We alerted our team and our officer Sandhya Topno, along with two constables and a driver, checked a four-wheeler at Old Hulhundu and then saw a pickup van coming and gestured it to stop. The van slowed down but all of a sudden gathered speed and ploughed into our officer standing near the police vehicle. We rushed the injured police officer to RIMS (Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences) where she was declared dead,” said Kanhaiya Singh, the Tupudana police station officer-in-charge.
The police chased the pickup, which overturned after travelling around 1.5km. The driver, identified as Nigar Khan, has been arrested.
Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kaushal Kishore said the van was carrying 10 cows from Odisha.
Topno, a 2018 Jharkhand Public Service Commission batch officer, is survived by her mother and siblings.
“She was a native of Khunti but was staying with her mother and siblings at Ranchi. The last rites will be conducted in Ranchi. She was an energetic and sincere officer. Her body was kept at the police grounds for personnel to pay their last respects,” said Ranchi sergeant major Anand Raj Khalko.
SSP Kishore said: “We have seized the vehicle and nabbed the driver while one person has escaped. Ten cattle heads have been recovered. The driver is being interrogated and prima facie it appears that the cattle were being brought from Odisha through Simdega and Gumla. We are investigating where the animals were being taken.”
Cop mowed down
A police constable checking vehicles was run over by a truck in Gujarat’s Anand district early on Wednesday, reports PTI.
The container truck mowed down constable Karansinh Raj, 40, around 1am on a highway near Borsad town after he had overtaken the vehicle after chasing it down.
