A Delhi Police constable in the anti-terrorist unit special cell accidentally shot himself dead with an AK-47 during an operation in Rohini Sector 21 on Wednesday morning.

Anand Khatri had been posted only two months ago with the southwest unit of the anti-terrorist special cell.

Khatri was part of a team raiding a building in a residential colony in outer Rohini in the early hours of Wednesday to nab Ashok aka Sonu Pandit, a wanted man.

"While the constable was coming down (from the building) using a wall, he lost his balance and the AK-47 gun that was already cocked accidentally went off. A bullet pierced his chin and exited from the head. He was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival," Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (special cell), told Hindustan Times.

The autopsy is to be conducted in the afternoon of 6 January, following which the body will be handed over to his family.

Sonu Pandit, in search of whom the operation was conducted, is wanted for many crimes like extortion and contract killing, and is a member of the Ravinder Bholu gang. Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi had announced a Rs 20,000 bounty for his arrest.