Bareilly:
It was a game of cops and robbers that went horribly wrong. In the Devrania area of Bareilly, a nine-year-old boy shot dead his eight-year-old cousin with a fully-loaded, country-made pistol on Monday.
The children were playing at the boy's house under the supervision of his mother. When she left them alone for a while, the nine-year-old brought a gun his father had hidden away somewhere in the house. He then aimed it directly at the temple of his cousin and fired. The eight-year-old old girl died on the spot.
On hearing the loud gunshot, the mother entered the house, and fled with her son. The boy's family is on the run now.
"The boy brought the country-made weapon from inside the house, put the gun to the girl's head and pulled the trigger. She collapsed. The weapon is illegal. There is no one else in the house. We brought the girl with us," said the victim's cousin.
The police says that the family did not have a licence for the pistol. They have, however, not made any arrests as yet.
"The victim is an eight-year-old girl. The boy shot her. They were cousins. They were playing when this happened. The country-made weapon is illegal. A case has been registered and we are investigating," said Vijay Yadav, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Bareilly.