Shooting outside Ferozepur Civil Hospital trauma ward spreads panic

FEROZEPUR: Close on the heels of incidents of hooliganism and ransacking of trauma ward inside local civil hospital by some armed men last Saturday, a shooting incident outside the ward spread panic in the hospital on Wednesday night.

According to information, injuries were inflicted on Sat Pal, a retail cloth merchant in Cantonment area and his son Sunny, when the former refused to entertain the request of a customer who was insisting on replacement of cloth purchased from their shop.

During the skirmish, Manual Masih received injuries and those from both the parties were admitted in the trauma ward. Upon hearing news of the fight, kin of both the groups started reaching the trauma ward. Thereafter, a clash broke out, in which advocate Amit Chopra was injured. According to an eyewitness, during the clash, someone fired six shots in the air.

When contacted, DSP city Jagjit Singh Sarao said a case under various sections of IPC and Arms Act had been registered against six persons in the city police station and police had arrested two accused, Manual Masih and Billa.

When asked about the failure of policemen deputed in the police picket inside the civil hospital premises in performing their duty, he said the picket had been set up in a makeshift tent and due to rain in the morning, the entire tent was flooded with rainwater. The policemen on duty were taking shelter near the hospital canteen at the time of the incident and before they could do anything about it, the troublemakers had dispersed.