GUJRAT, June 22: Three criminals, who shot dead a Dinga SI and a constable at a picket near Kalu Sahi village, were also killed by police in an encounter only after two hours of the incident near Kotla Qazi village of Phalia, Mandi Bahauddin, on Sunday night.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that the Dinga police had set up the picket near Kalu Sahi village on Mungowal Road for snap checking. The police signalled to stop three motorcyclists, but they opened fire on them and escaped. Consequently, SI Akhtar Mahmood and constable Muhammad Zaman died on the spot. The other policemen aired the message about the incident and started chasing the outlaws.

As the policemen reduced the distance, the fleeing criminals abandoned their two-wheeler near Kotla Qazi village and took refuge in a nearby deserted outhouse. Later, they opened fire on policemen which was returned. In the meantime, the Dinga police party aired another message about the exact location of the place of encounter. Within no time DPO Raja Munawwar Hussain and ASP Kharian Dr Raja Abid Khan along with a heavy police contingent reached there. The crossfire that continued for more than an hour left the three murderers of two policemen dead. The police recovered an SMG rifle, a 44 bore rifle and a 30 bore pistol besides a large quantity of cartridges from the site.

The dead criminals were identified as Imtiaz of Shadiwal, Tasawwar and Sajjad of Chak Basawa, Mandi Bahauddin.

Gujranwala Range DIG Malik Muhammad Iqbal told newsmen that the Punjab government had announced Rs300,000 each as compensation money for the heirs of the two slain policemen. He said that a one day salary of the Gujrat district police would also be given to heirs of the deceased policemen.