Uttarakhand: Man held for stabbing 23-year-old to death in Udham Singh Nagar's Khatima

Dehradun, Dec 14 (PTI) A man was arrested after an encounter on Sunday for allegedly stabbing a 23-year-old to death in Khatima area of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, police said.

The accused has been identified as Hashim (21), they said.

On Friday night, an argument between two groups escalated into a violent clash in which Tushar Sharma was stabbed to death, and his two companions were seriously injured, Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Manikant Mishra said.

He said that statements from eyewitnesses and analysis of CCTV footage revealed that Hashim, along with his accomplices, allegedly committed the crime.

Mishra said that acting on a tip-off, a police team surrounded Hashim near a brick kiln in Jhanjhat and asked him to surrender. However, the accused started firing at the police.

In retaliation by the police, the accused was shot in the right leg and was subsequently arrested, the officer said.

He said that during a search, an illegal .315 bore pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from the accused.

The police said that the injured accused was taken to Nanakmatta Hospital for first aid, from where he was referred to the District Hospital, Rudrapur.

The accused's criminal record is being investigated and efforts are on to nab the others, they said.

After the incident, a group led by the Bajrang Dal on Saturday set ablaze a shop belonging to the accused and staged protests on the streets, forcing the closure of markets in Khatima, the police said.

The police had to resort to a baton charge to control the deteriorating situation, the officer said. PTI DPT APL