Trooper killed in celebratory firing in UP

Lucknow, Feb 13 (IANS) An army trooper was killed in celebratory firing at a wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened in Chakeri town late on Monday when the friends of the groom Shiv Prakash opened fire in the air and a bullet hit 28-year-old Kuldeep Dixit. He had come from Ambala to attend his friend’s wedding.

A man named Sanjay Maurya, a resident of Rae Bareli, has been arrested and his rifle seized by the police.

A police official informed IANS that the deceased, the groom and the person who fired the bullet belonged to the same village.

According to the police, people were dancing in the wedding procession outside Pitambara guest house in Shyamnagar, Chakeri when Sanjay opened fire, apparently in a drunken state and the bullet hit the army trooper.

Dixit was rushed to the Kanshiram Trauma Centre where he was pronounced dead.

The deceased was married in November last year, police said.

Despite the ban on celebratory firing by the Supreme Court, many people are killed every year in such firing during weddings in Uttar Pradesh.