Four police officials, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured in an attack by illegal liquor smugglers in Hapur district late on Tuesday night.
According to police reports, a team of officials, acting on a tip-off, raided a liquor shop in Atrauli village in Pilkhuwa on Tuesday night.
Amit Kumar Nagar, circle officer (CO) of Pilkhuwa, led the raiding team comprising six officials from the police and excise department of the state government around 10 pm.
As soon as the raiding team reached the liquor shop, irate buyers and sellers gathered at the site and attacked them with sticks and stones.
The angry mob targeted the circle officer who has received serious head injuries. Excise inspector Ajay Yadav, who was also accompanying the team, sustained injuries in the neck and back while constable Vipin Sharma escaped with a fractured arm. One of the men involved in the illegal sale of liquor, identified as Rajendra, escaped under the cover of darkness in the incident.
Soon after the incident, superintendent of police Ashok Kumar Raghav rushed to the spot and rushed Nagar and his team members to a nearby hospital where they are recuperating.
The police managed to arrest two of the people involved in the attack and the police spokesman said that a criminal case has been registered. Two suspects have been arrested.
The police spokesman said that the illicit liquor was being brought from Haryana and sold in Uttar Pradesh.