By IANS,
Bangalore : Army guards shot dead a 20-year-old youth, Mohammed Mukkharam, in the early hours of Sunday for intruding into the high security defence area and trying to escape when asked to surrender, a senior police official said.
“The youth was shot by sentry guards in the compound of a top army officer’s house on the old Airport Road around 2 a.m. when he tried to jump the compound wall instead of surrendering,” Ulsoor area inspector M.K. Thammaiah told IANS.
Mukharram apparently intruded into the army residential quarters after he was chased by the mobile police squad on night beat while participating in a motorbike drag race with colleagues.
“The victim sneaked into the army officer’s house and tried to hide behind bushes and trees. When the guards asked him to come out and surrender, he began running. The guards first tried to stop him by firing in the air and shot him when he tried to jump over the wall,” said Thammaiah, who is investigating the case.
The police registered a case of trespass into a restricted area and attempt to escape under section 448 and 103 IPC (Indian Penal Code) against the victim on a complaint by the army police.
“Even as the youth tried to escape, he called one of his colleagues on mobile for rescuing him from the guards and the police outside. We seized his motorbike after it was found abandoned on the main road,” the inspector said.
Mukharram was a B.Com student in a city college. His body was handed over to the parents after post-mortem examination at a government hospital in the city.
City deputy commissioner of police (east) B.K. Singh said the police were trying to curb adventurous youth from indulging in motorbike drag race on some thoroughfares, as it became a menace to other road users and dangerous to their life and limb.
“We have been booking traffic violation cases against such offenders to put an end to this kind of dare-devilry. Police squads on night beat have intensified patrolling since the Mumbai terror attacks last month to check any unusual movements on city roads,” Singh added.