Kolkata: Dilip Roy, the prime accused in the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district, was killed in a police encounter in Raiganj during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, officials said.
The semi-decomposed body of the minor girl was recovered on November 6 after she went missing for over two days. The search for the accused has been on since then.
After a prolonged search, the investigating officers went to arrest the accused, Dilip Roy, on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, after receiving a tip-off about his hideout from a secret source.
Police claimed that when officers attempted to arrest him, Roy opened fire at the team. The personnel retaliated in self-defence, during which the accused sustained fatal injuries.
The victim, a 12-year-old girl, had gone missing on November 3 after leaving home on a bicycle. Her body was later recovered from the nearby Kulik forest, following which her family lodged a complaint alleging rape and murder.
According to police, Roy had been absconding since the recovery of the semi-decomposed body of the minor girl on November 6, two days after she went missing from her home in Raiganj. Acting on a tip-off about his whereabouts, a police team launched a raid at Gauri Gram Panchayat around 3 a.m. on Monday.
The body of the deceased has been shifted to Raiganj Medical College & Hospital. The autopsy of the body will be done there later in the day.
According to police, the accused was trying to flee to another state through the Bihar border, which is quite close to North Dinajpur district.
This is the fourth encounter killing in West Bengal since July this year, three of which are related to minors’ rape & murder cases.
First, in July, Prabhas Mondal, accused of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, was shot dead by the police in an encounter. The police claimed that he was taken to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime. From there, he snatched the police gun and opened fire. The police resorted to counter-firing in self-defense, killing the accused.
After that, in October, Prahlad Das, accused in the rape & murder of a 17-year-old girl at Gaighata in South 24 Parganas district, was killed in a similar encounter following retaliatory firing by the police. In this case too, it was alleged that the accused tried to escape while reenacting the incident.
On the same day, Samiul Sheikh, who was arrested for murdering a BJP worker in Samserganj in Murshidabad district, was killed in an encounter. The Raiganj incident is the fourth on the list of encounters since July.
(IANS)
