Car thief ran over police, escaped on foot

A car thief in a stolen SUV tried to run over police officers in Gonda late Saturday night. The suspect attacked a head constable with the butt of a revolver and broke through several police barricades before abandoning the vehicle. The stolen SUV belonged to Israr Ahmed, a local politician and contractor from Siddharthnagar. Ahmed had parked his vehicle near a block office to pray and left his phone and a licensed revolver inside. When he returned, he found his SUV was gone and reported it to the police. After police received reports of the stolen SUV heading toward Gonda, they set up roadblocks. At around 12:05 am, a police team attempted to stop the vehicle at a railway crossing, but the thief crashed through the barricades, forcing officers to dive for safety. Another attempt to intercept the SUV at a different location also failed. During the chase, the SUV became stuck in a police barrier near the Visuhi River bridge. The suspect jumped out and fled the scene. Inspector Manoj Pathak confirmed the recovery of the vehicle and said a case has been registered against the unknown suspect. A search operation is currently ongoing.