Chandigarh:
A 21-year-old wrestler from Punjab was allegedly shot at and injured by police who mistook him for a criminal.
The incident took place in Haryana's Sonepat district on November 28. An investigation has begun after reports came in that some police officials, who were looking for a criminal, shot at Gurpal Singh, son of an IPS officer, in a case of mistaken identity.
Mr Singh was shot at on the Rai-Sonepat road, about 220 km from Chandigarh, when he was returning from a sports camp with his friend to a market, the victim's cousin Randheer told PTI on phone today.
"We have registered a case under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder). The investigations are being handled by Sonepat's Deputy Superintendent of Police (headquarters)," said Alok Mittal, the Inspector General (IG) of Police Rohtak Range.
Reacting to media reports that Mr Singh was shot at by police mistakenly, the IG said, "We are probing this angle too. All the facts relating to the case are being verified. We have already registered a case on the victim's complaint. If he has to add anything more, we will bring that too on record and add the same to the FIR".
He said that if it was established that it was a case of mistaken identity, culprits will be punished.
"We are not trying to hide anything or hush up things. The entire incident needs to be fairly investigated, which we are doing," he added.
Giving details of the incident, Randheer said, Mr Singh was heading back to his hostel after 8 pm when a car suddenly blocked his way and two-three armed men in plain clothes got down and asked the duo to come out. Mr Singh panicked as he had heard that area was not safe to stop and sped away, but those persons fired and a bullet pierced from behind hitting him in the back, Randheer said.
Mr Singh was rushed to a nearby hospital in Rai and later to a private hospital in Delhi. He was discharged from the hospital today.