Raiganj: A man accused of raping and murdering a minor was killed in a police encounter at Raiganj in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal on Sunday evening.
This is the fourth encounter death in the state since July. Three of those killed were accused of raping and killing minors. Soon after taking over, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had given a free hand to the police to deal with such criminals.
In Sunday’s incident, the police had gone to arrest one Dilip Roy for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl. The accused allegedly opened fire on the police team when they reached the village in Raiganj.
The policemen returned fire and Roy suffered injuries. He was taken to the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.
The unclothed body of the minor victim was found four days ago, in a decomposed condition from a forested area near the Kulik river, officials said.
The police had received a tip on Roy’s location and raided the Gouri gram panchayat area. Roy, in an attempt to flee, fired at the police team and one of the bullets hit the tyre of their vehicle.
“We had been searching for the accused for the past four days. Acting on a tip-off, our team traced him in the early hours of Monday. He opened fire at the police team, who retaliated in self-defence,” a senior police official said, as reported by Deccan Herald.
Authorities said that the girl went missing since the afternoon of November 3 after leaving her home on a bicycle. Her family alleged rape and murder after recovery of the body.
Prabhas Mondal, an accused in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas, was killed in an encounter with the police in July. The police had claimed that he snatched a firearm from a personnel and opened fire while being taken to the crime scene for reconstruction, forcing them to retaliate in self-defence.
On October 27, Prahlad Das, arrested following the recovery of the naked body of a Class 11 student in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, was killed in police firing while attempting to escape during a crime-scene reconstruction exercise.
On the same day, one Samaul Haque, arrested for the murder of a BJP worker in Samsherganj in the Murshidabad district, was also killed in a police encounter.