AHMEDABAD: A security guard arrested for allegedly raping a woman in Ahmedabad was shot in the leg while allegedly trying to escape from police custody during a recovery operation, officials said on Monday.
A police constable also suffered a bullet injury during the incident, which occurred late Sunday night, they said.
The accused, Dharam Singh, was taken to the Hebatpur area for recovery of the mobile phone allegedly stolen from the victim when he tried to snatch the service pistol of an inspector, leading to a scuffle, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 7) Shivam Verma told reporters.
"During the scuffle, a round was fired and the police constable was injured. Subsequently, when police tried to overpower the accused, another round was fired, hitting him in the leg," Verma said.
Both the accused and the constable, identified as Virendra Singh, were shifted for treatment to the Civil Hospital in Sola, where they were reported to be stable, he said.
According to Verma, the accused was arrested on Sunday morning, within hours of the rape incident and his medical examination and DNA sampling were completed.
Police were conducting a panchnama in the Hebatpur area to recover the mobile phone allegedly stolen by the accused when he tried to escape.
"In an attempt to escape from the police, he tried to snatch the service pistol of an inspector. During the scuffle, one bullet fired from that pistol injured our constable," Verma said.
The Bodakdev police were in the process of registering a case against the accused for attempt to commit culpable homicide, he added.
The security guard had been arrested for allegedly raping a woman on the terrace of a residential building in the Anandnagar police station area.
The woman had gone to the terrace for a walk on Saturday night when the accused allegedly strangled her and sexually assaulted her before locking her there and fleeing, according to police.
The accused, a native of Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh, had started working as a security guard at the residential society just four days before the incident, they said.
He switched off his mobile phone and fled after the incident.
Multiple teams comprising personnel from the local police and Crime Branch were formed. Investigators traced the accused with the help of CCTV footage of the area, and he was arrested around 8 am on Sunday near Hebatpur, police said.