Source – newindianexpress.com
PATNA: A criminal identified as Baiju Mahto was killed late night on Friday in retaliatory firing by the Lalganj police in Bihar’s Vaishali district while another was caught with an illegal firearm. The third criminal, however, managed to escape.
According to Vaishali Superintendent of Police (SP), Dr Guarav Mangla, a late-night police patrol team intercepted a Scorpio moving near Tinpulwa.
He added that the criminals fired at the police, unprovoked when the police indicated to stop the Scorpio.
Lead by SHO Sunil Kumar, they retaliated and in the process, a criminal named Baiju Mahto succumbed to bullet injuries on the way to the hospital while one of his accomplices, identified as Ashutosh Kumar was caught with a firearm, the police said.
The third criminal escaped during the fire exchange, has also been identified.
The SP said that two firearms, empty and unused cartridges and one Scorpio with a VIP registration number: BR-31PA-7000 were recovered.
The deceased was accused of multiple cases lodged in the Lalganj and Mahua Police Stations in which one of the case was lodged under relevant sections of prohibition Act implemented in the state in 2018.
The SP told media that it was an encounter death and magistrate inquiry and FSL investigation were conducted as per the law.
He also said: “There is more criminal history under Prohibition law, which is being complied”.
This was the first encounter-death of an alleged criminal in this year in Bihar. Eleven criminals were killed in seven different encounters in 2019 in Bihar, as per the numbers on Bihar police website.