Patna, Dec 25 (IANS): A sub-inspector rank officer was shot at by a gang of seven robbers in Patna’s Beur locality late on Sunday night.

The victim has been identified as Phulan Ram, a sub-inspector deployed at Beur police station. He was leading a police team during night patrolling when an incident took place in the area adjoining Patna bypass also known as National Highway 31 around 9 p.m.

The robbers were stealing batteries from a telecom tower in Beur locality when the police team reached the crime scene.

“When robbers saw a police team approaching them, they opened fire on them. One of the bullets hit Phulan in his right hand. He was admitted to a nearby hospital and his condition is said to be out of danger,” said Vikram Sihag, SDPO, Phulwarisharif range, Patna.

The police team chased the robbers and managed to nab three of them including the kingpin of the gang.

“We are scanning the CCTV cameras and also interrogating the accused persons to identify other accused. During the chase, the robbers left the stolen batteries. We have recovered more than 30 batteries. We have also recovered one pistol, three live cartridges and one dead cartridge from their possession,” he said.

“We have scanned the criminal records of the accused and found that they had been involved in robberies and theft of mobile batteries in the past as well. We are making efforts to arrest the other four accused,” Sihag said.