RANCHI: Notorious gangster Aman Sao, also known as Aman Sahu, was killed in a police encounter while being transported to Ranchi from Chhattisgarh on a transit remand. The encounter took place at Andhari Dhoda in Jharkhand’s Palamu district under Chainpur Block.
According to police sources, Aman Sahu attempted to escape after the vehicle transporting him met with an accident. Seizing the opportunity, some of his aides attacked the police convoy with a bomb. Amid the chaos, he managed to snatch an INSAS rifle from a police officer and started firing while trying to flee.
“When policemen tried to stop him, he started firing on them; the police personnel also fired in retaliation, in which Aman Sao was killed on the spot,” said a senior police official, requesting anonymity. One police personnel was reportedly injured in the incident.
Aman Sahu was being brought to Ranchi from Raipur for questioning in connection with the shooting of coal businessman Bipin Mishra in Bariatu on March 7 and NTPC DGM Kumar Gaurav in Hazaribagh on March 8. Earlier on Monday, Jharkhand DGP had stated, “Three gangsters -- Vikas Tiwari, Aman Srivastava, and Aman Sao are running their operations from inside jails, and raids have been conducted in the jails of Simdega and Hazaribagh.”
Aman Sahu had become one of the biggest challenges for Jharkhand Police. His gang actively targeted coal traders, transporters, contractors, real estate businessmen, and builders, extorting money from them. Those who refused to pay were often attacked. After committing crimes, his gang would post updates on social media and inform the media through virtual numbers, taking responsibility for the incidents.
He had multiple cases of extortion registered against him in Raipur and had been lodged in Raipur jail for the last three and a half months. Even from jail, he continued to run extortion operations in Jharkhand and later expanded them to Chhattisgarh.
On October 14, a team of 40 policemen took Aman Sahu to Raipur on a production warrant from Jharkhand. He was the prime accused in the firing incident on businessman Prahlad Rai Agarwal’s car on July 13.
Aman Sahu had also expressed his political ambitions and planned to contest the 2024 Jharkhand Assembly elections from the Barkagaon Assembly Seat. He had even bought a nomination form and filed an intervention petition in the Jharkhand High Court, seeking permission to contest the election. However, the bench of Justice SK Dwivedi rejected his petition, stating that over 120 serious criminal cases were registered against him.