The man, later identified as Raghuvir Singh, eventually turned out to be a “smuggler”. The police also recovered 23 cartons of liquor from his car.

Two officers of the Haryana Police sustained serious injuries in the chase, which ended after their vehicle, a Tata Sumo, fell into the Ghaggar river near the Azad Colony in Sector 21.

The CIA team had set up a checkpost near Ramgarh Fort after receiving a tip-off about a vehicle, possibly carrying the miscreants behind a spate of robberies in Panchkula.

The Ambala CIA team, headed by Inspector Yashwant Singh, swung into action soon after Raghuvir turned away his Chevrolet Optra, bearing a Delhi registration number, from the checkpost.

The trail continued for about 15-20 minutes, till both the vehicles reached Ghaggar Bridge. Here, Raghuvir repeatedly started banging his car against the police vehicle and succeeded in pushing it off the road. The policemen’s car fell into the river.

Raghuvir, too, could not drive his car for long as one of its tyres burst. To avoid capture, Raghuvir jumped off the bridge in Ghaggar. While he suffered fractures to his limbs, Inspector Yashwant Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Daljit Singh sustained multiple injuries. The other members of the team, who were travelling in the Sumo, too sustained bruises, contusions and abrasions.

Raghuvir was later nabbed and taken into custody. He, however, invoked serious legal action as the police booked him under charges of attempt to murder. “After receiving information about the robberies in Panchkula, the CIA staff of Ambala, Kurukshetra along with the Station House Officers of Chandimandir, Sector 14 and Sector 20 police stations had set up a major checkpost near Ramgarh Fort. The suspicious and sudden U-turn taken by the car raised doubts and the CIA team started chasing the vehicle,” said Inspector Baljit Singh.

The injured police officers and Raghuvir are undergoing treatment at the General Hospital in Sector 6.

Raghuvir’s profile
Police said Raghuvir, a resident of Sonepat district, has a tainted past. “He has a criminal record and was caught a number of times on charges of smuggling.