Men in auto assault cops, steal police van in Virpur

Two policemen were assaulted and their official van stolen by unidentified men in Virpur village of Jetpur taluka in Rajkot district late on Thursday night. Though the police vehicle was recovered on Friday, cops were clueless about the assailants till late in the evening.

Jetpur police said Balvantsinh Jadeja, assistant police inspector (ASI) at the special police station in Virpur and his driver Mahendra Dhana were injured in the attack. The incident took place when Jadeja and Dhana were patrolling near Mevasa village.

Four to five men in an auto-rickshaw beat them up at around 3:00am on Friday.
Sources said Jadeja had gone to answer nature’s call when Dhana, who was sitting in the car, ordered an auto-rickshaw that happened to pass by to stop. However, before the driver could understand anything, four to five men in the auto attacked him with wooden clubs.

Hearing the noise, Jadeja rushed to the rescue of Dhana but he too was hit and injured by the assailants. As both the cops lay injured, the attackers drove away in the police van.

After coming to know about the incident, Jetpur police inspector (PI) Aniruddhsinh Jadeja and other police officials rushed to the spot and shifted Jadeja and Dhana to a hospital.

Following an intense search operation, the cops found the police van abandoned near Jetpur town at 7:00am. However, there was no trace of the assailants till late
in the evening, Jetpur
police said.

Virpur is famous for Hindu saint Jalaram’s temple and the police station was inaugurated recently for safety and security of pilgrims.