Samserganj encounter: Inspector fired at accused to save his senior, say cops
Kolkata: Samiul Sheikh, the murder accused killed in a police encounter at Samserganj in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon, targeted a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) ranking officer before he was killed in counter-firing by an Inspector ranking officer, insiders from the state police confirmed on Wednesday.
State police insiders said that Sheikh, an accused in the murder of local BJP leader in Samserganj, was taken on Tuesday afternoon to the scene of the crime to recreate the sequence of events when he suddenly snatched the firearm of an escorting cop and also fired two rounds towards the police personnel.
After both his targets missed, sources said, the accused specially targeted the DSP, leaving no other option for the Inspector to resort to counter-firing, killing Samiul Sheikh.
It is learnt that Samiul Sheikh was hit on his head by a bullet, which ultimately led to his death. He was rushed to the local Jangipur Sub-divisional hospital where he was declared dead.
This was the second encounter on Tuesday, the first being at Gaighata I North 24 Parganas district on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, when Prahlad Das, an accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl in his locality, was killed in a police encounter.
In this case also, Das allegedly tried to escape after snatching the firearm of an escorting cop and also fired at the on-duty police personnel.
Although some human rights activists’ groups have condemned the twin encounters and described them as “extra-judicial executions,” top members of the West Bengal Cabinet including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, justified the police actions in these two cases.
The Chief Minister of the BJP government in the state had claimed that he had given a “free hand” to the police to tackle the twin social evils of crimes against women and narcotics trafficking.
The state Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister, Dilip Ghosh had claimed that at times cops have to do some unpleasant work for the sake of larger public interest.
The state Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister, Agnimitra Paul, has written a poem and posted the same on the wall of her social media handle, indirectly backing the Gaighata and Samserganj encounters.