Bengaluru Man Held for Breaching Curfew, Shot While Trying to Flee

The man was shot in the leg, one day after he was arrested for assaulting cops in Bengaluru’s Sanjaynagar area.

Police in Bengaluru shot a man in the knee, after he tried to escape police custody and assaulted officers with bricks and stones, on Thursday, 26 March in the Sanjaynagar area.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The police in Bengaluru shot a man in the knee when he attempted to escape police custody, assaulted officers with brick and stone, on Thursday, 26 March, in Sanjaynagar area.

The accused, identified as Tejuddin, with his friends had breached the checkpost placed on Wednesday in light of the lockdown due to COVID-19. He attacked police officials when confronted, according to the police.

“The accused breached the check post at Bhoopasandra. He and his friends were over-speeding and performing stunts on bikes. When our policemen tried to secure them after giving them a chase, they attacked the cops,” a senior police officer from the Sanjay Nagar PS said.

Reportedly, he was taken back to the spot on Thursday for evidence collection when the incident took place. The police said he escaped and ran before he attacked officers trying to control him, injuring a woman cop and a head constable.

“To prevent further attack and to secure him, a Sanjayanagar inspector has fired two rounds, one in the air and on his left leg. All three shifted to Baptist hospital and are undergoing treatment,” said police.

The official handle of the Bengaluru city police also tweeted in response to news of the incident.

Police Releases Videos of First Scuffle at Checkpoint

Bengaluru Police has released several videos of the scuffle that took place between the accused and his friends and police officers on Wednesday.

In them, Tejuddin can be seen with a number of other people in an argument and a physical fracas with two cops (in uniform). Several men can be seen roughing up policemen as a crowd gathers.

Vidoes of skirmishes between citizens and the police have been shared on social media, only a couple of days into the 21-day national lockdown imposed. Police have set up checkpoints at several places to curtail non-essential travel. 

As citizens scrambled to stock up on provisions and essentials from grocery stores, Karnataka Deputy General of Police (DGP) Praveen Sood announced that grocery shops and supermarkets with food would allowed to be open 24/7 so as to avoid large crowds.