‘Encounter’ row: Video shows man assaulted before being taken away by cops; later ‘shot in leg’

Bijnor: Days after a man from Bijnor was shot in the leg in a "police encounter", a video surfaced on Monday purportedly showing several policemen -- some in uniform and others in civvies -- repeatedly slapping and punching the accused in front of his two-storey house before pulling him by the collar into a waiting vehicle.The man, identified as Suheb Ahmad, was later "shot in the leg during a police encounter". In the six-minute clip filmed by a local, Ahmad could be purportedly seen on the terrace with cops slowly climbing the stairs from the narrow bylanes to get him. Moments later, Ahmad is caught and cops then start assaulting him in front of a small crowd, before taking away the 36-year-old who was "barely able to walk". All of this happened around 3-3.30am, early Saturday. Ahmad was then arrested and, according to police, got injured in a retaliatory fire after he allegedly tried to escape from custody by snatching a head constable's pistol and opening fire. He is currently admitted in a hospital.DIG Moradabad range Muniraj G told TOI, "It took a lot of effort and almost an hour to arrest the accused that night. The videos on social media are being looked into..."Bijnor SSP Abhishek Jha said in a statement: "Based on the video, it is being widely claimed that the accused was unable to walk or move, which is completely false. This claim is merely an assumption based on incomplete information about the incident."Earlier that night, residents in the neighbourhood accused Ahmad, who lives in Purana Dhampur, about 40km from Bijnor city, and his aides of barging into their house "with the intention to harm them". He is also alleged to have "attacked" houses of members of right-wing groups and "robbed" them. They approached police, demanding prompt action.Ahmad was held while the others are still at large. Later on Sat, authorities used bulldozers to raze a portion of Ahmed's house, claiming it had been "constructed on govt land".Dhampur circle officer Abhay Pandey further said, "After a complaint by Amit Sharma (who runs a Jan Seva Kendra), an FIR was registered under BNS sections 333 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 109 (1) (attempt to commit an offence), 305 (A) (robbery -related offence), 324 (4) (mischief causing damage to property) and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety)." According to police, Sharma and Ahmad had a heated argument earlier in the week and he allegedly targeted him and other neighbours early on Sat.Cops further said that some members of his community in the area had asserted that the incident should not be given a "communal colour" as Ahmad was a noted troublemaker who used to "often misbehave with almost everyone in the locality".