KOLKATA: Another accused was killed in West Bengal in a police encounter during in Samserganj of Murshidabad district on Tuesday, within hardly 24 hours after the first police encounter took place in Gaighata of North 24 Parganas district, in which the 23-year-old accused in the rape and murder of an adolescent girl was shot dead on Monday.
According to police, the second incident occurred when officers took Samaun Sheikh, an accused in the murder of Sujit Mondal in Dhuliyan, Murshidabad, two months ago, to the Old Dakbangla area under Samserganj police station, where Sheikh was subsequently murdered.
During the reconstruction of the crime scene, Samaun allegedly attempted to escape after snatching a service revolver from a police officer and allegedly opened fire.
“The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under West Bengal Police was probing the case. Today, the accused was brought to the spot for crime scene reconstruction. The shooting took place at that time. He was taken to Jangipur Sub-divisional Hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” police sources said.
Samserganj encounter followed another encounter shortly before midnight on Monday in Gaighata in North 24 Parganas district. Police claimed that Prahlad Das, an accused in the rape and murder of an adolescent girl at Gaighata, on Monday night fired at policemen first, prompting the latter to make a counterattack by shooting at him. Das died at a nearby Chandpara rural hospital.
The encounter happened in Gaighata; the girl’s body, carrying multiple injury marks, was found lying close to her residence on Sunday morning. Police also claimed they shot at him to save themselves on the spot.
With the two incidents since Monday night, Bengal recorded its third case of encounters after the South 24 Parganas’ Baruipur incident in which the key accused Prabhas Mondal in the rape and murder of a minor girl in July was also killed in a police encounter.
According to the North 24 Parganas police sources, Das was taken to the place for crime scene reconstruction of the rape and murder case of the victim girl. But he suddenly snatched a service revolver from one of the police personnel who were on the spot during reconstruction and fired around three rounds at them, the sources said, adding that one policeman sustained an injury.
As an act of self-defence, police made a counterattack and fired four rounds at him. The accused sustained bullet injuries and was rushed to the Chandpara rural hospital close to the India-Bangladesh border, where he was declared dead.
Das’s parents were found waiting at the hospital after police informed them about their son’s death. His mother allegedly fainted repeatedly when his body was shifted to another hospital for post-mortem.
“We handed over our son to the police but we never wanted such an encounter. We wanted exemplary punishment but not the ‘encounter’ to eliminate him," the mother said.
"Police claimed that he was trying to escape from the crime scene reconstruction spot, but how could it be possible when so many policemen were there? How can he snatch the revolver?” the parents said.
The state Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh, while reacting to the Gaighata encounter, told reporters earlier in the day, “The state government has taken a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to prevent crime. Police have to take some unwanted actions to bring back confidence in people.”
After preliminary investigation, police suspected that the girl, who was a student of class XI, might have been raped and murdered.
According to local sources, the girl, along with her family members, friends and relatives, on Saturday night had gone to see a musical show in the area close to her residence.
Family members claimed that she received a phone call from someone around 11.30 pm and left the venue of the show and didn’t come back. Later, they found her body.
Bidisha Kalita, superintendent of police of Bongaon police district, told reporters, “The body of an adolescent girl was recovered from Gaighata area on Sunday morning...she might have been raped and murdered. The body has been sent for post-mortem, and we can confirm the cause of her death and injury marks after getting the autopsy report.”
Local MLA Subrata Thakur from Gaighata told the media, “We strongly condemn the incident. One person has been arrested and exemplary punishment must be given to the person or persons whoever is involved in the heinous incident.”