PATNA: Two dreaded criminals and a Special Task Force (STF) jawan were killed in an encounter at Ramdiha village under Chakia police station limits in Bihar’s East Champaran district early Tuesday.
Police said that two suspects were arrested following the encounter, as the raid was conducted based on intelligence inputs related to a threat to kill police personnel.
Notably, the audio clip had gone viral on social media recently.
Police said that the notorious criminal, Kundan Thakur, had allegedly made a threatening phone call to Chakia’s additional station house officer (ASHO), stating that, “Agla news yeh hoga ki apradhi aur police ke beech muqable mein 10-15 policekarmi mare jayenge (10-15 policemen will be killed in an encounter between criminals and police).”
Police said that a case was registered on Monday in view of the threat.
Police conducted a raid at Kundan Thakur's residence following receipt of intelligence inputs, revealing that the gangsters, along with his accomplices was hiding there.
During the raid, Kundan Thakur and members of his gang allegedly opened indiscriminate fire on the police team. One policeman sustained serious injuries and later succumbed to it during the treatment.
He was identified as 31-year-old Constable Shri Ram Yadav. Police in the retaliatory move also opened fire, injuring Kundan Thakur and another alleged gang member, Priyanshu Kumar alias Priyanshu Dubey.
The two injured criminals later succumbed to their injuries.
While Kudan was a resident of Bulla Chowk under Chakia police station limits in East Champaran district, Priyanshu was a resident of Basantpur village in Muzaffarpur district.
Two others, identified as Ujjawal Kumar and Sant Kumar Tiwari, were arrested at the spot.
Both were residents of Sihorwa village in the Chakia police station limits. The arrested men, a father-son duo with criminal antecedents, were also booked under the Arms Act.
Police recovered a huge cache of weapons, including one carbine, two pistols, two country-made pistols, six live cartridges and 17 used cartridges from the spot.
Gold jewellery was recovered from the possession of deceased criminals.
According to a press statement issued by police headquarters, Kundan was involved in the murder of Amrendra Pandey, a resident of Bakhri under Chakia police limits in East Champaran district, and a murderous attack on a drugs dealer, Vijay Sharma, under Rajepur police station limits in Muzaffarpur district.
The statement said that at least six cases were pending against Kundan and his associates in East Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts.