Gurgaon: Two criminals shot dead in encounter

Two criminals were shot dead late Friday night while two of their accomplices managed to escape in an encounter with police which ensued when they took eight members of a family hostage in Palam Vihar area of the district, a top police officer said.

Eight members of a family, including two children, were taken hostage in their house by the four criminals. However, one of the hostages managed to call the police, which immediately reached the spot and asked the criminals to release the family.

The criminals opened fire on the police team which fired back killing two of them. However, two others managed to escape, Police Commissioner (Gurgaon) Surjit Singh Deswal said, adding two country-made pistols, a knife and a mobile phone were recovered from the deceased. All the hostages were safely rescued, he said.

House owner Anoop Chaturvedi said that the four criminals barged into the house when they opened the main door for their son, who had returned home from work at 9:30 pm. Meanwhile, sources claim that the criminals were seven in number and three of them had escaped from the area in a car. The car was found abandoned in a nearby locality, they added.