The man accused of murder was shot dead by three men inside the courtroom in Bijnor
Eighteen policemen have been suspended a day after a murder accused was shot dead inside a courtroom in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor. The man accused of killing two people was shot dead by three men inside the court. A policeman and a court staff are in hospital.
The shooting happened as the prisoner, Shahnawaz Ansari, was being produced in front of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Bijnor district court. The three men who took out pistols inside the courtroom and shot the prisoner were chased and arrested by policemen present inside the court.
Local reports suggest that such was the intensity of the firing inside the courtroom that even the judge and other court staff had to duck for cover.
An advocate who was inside the court said everyone dove to the floor as soon as bullets were fired.
"I was inside the court. A client of mine had a bail application. Suddenly these three men stared shooting. We ducked for cover. I saw one man fall to the ground. I even saw a policeman take a bullet. We just took a dive to the floor and stayed there till the cops rescued us. I think it was all very filmy," said advocate Atul Sisodia.
Shahnawaz Ansari was accused in the double murder of Bahujan Samaj Party politician Haji Ahsan Khan and his nephew in May.
50-year-old Haji Ahsan and his nephew were shot dead on May 29 by two men at their office in Bijnor's Najibabad town. Mr Ahsan was in charge of the Bahujan Samaj Party's Najibabad assembly seat and his nephew was a party worker too. The local police later said the killings were not politically motivated but over a business rivalry.