An eight-year-old boy was allegedly killed in crossfiring between a police team and suspects in a robbery case in Uttar Pradesh’s Mohanpura village on Wednesday, IANS reported.

A sub-inspector and four constables had reached Mohanpura in Mathura district after receiving inputs that criminals allegedly involved in a recent robbery were hiding in the village. Soon after the police and the alleged criminals resorted to crossfiring. Some villagers claimed that the police opened fire after asking the suspects to gather at one spot, NDTV reported.

The boy, Madhav Bharadwaj, was playing with his friends nearby when the bullet hit him, his grandfather said. “The cops called for a vehicle and agreed to accompany the family to hospital but at Navada, they told the family to take the boy to hospital as they had to go and fetch more force for the encounter,” the boy’s grandfather told Hindustan Times. “The boy was admitted to hospital but he died. The matter has been reported to senior officials who reached the hospital and assured to register a case for murder of the boy.”

Chief Minister Adityanath directed Agra’s inspector general of police to conduct an investigation into the incident. The state government also sanctioned Rs 5 lakh in compensation to the boy’s family from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, IANS reported. .

Senior Superintendent of Police (Mathura) Swapnil Mamgain told the Hindustan Times that a sub-inspector from the highway police station had gone to the village with a team without informing the station officer.