A 23-year-old man named Prahlad Das, accused of raping and murdering a teenager, was killed in an encounter.
KOLKATA: The 23-year-old man arrested for the alleged rape and murder of a 17-year-old Class 11 student in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district was killed in a police encounter early Tuesday, police sources said. The accused, Prahlad Das, allegedly snatched a service revolver during the reconstruction of the crime scene in Bongaon between 3am and 3.30am, fired at police personnel and jumped into a pond in an attempt to escape, according to police sources. A Bongaon court had remanded him in 10 days of police custody on Sunday.
The girl, who lived with her maternal grandparents, had left the programme after receiving a phone call, according to the police. Police allegedly opened fire in self-defence. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead. Her family members and neighbours searched for her through the night before locals found her body in the backyard of a relative’s house. Police had arrested Das, a resident of Shimulpur in Gaighata who was reportedly known to the victim, on the basis of a complaint lodged by her family. The incident had triggered protests in the area, prompting the deployment of a large police contingent, including Rapid Action Force and Combat Force personnel, to maintain law and order.
The accused’s death comes two days after the girl’s body was recovered from behind a house in Gaighata, near the Indo-Bangladesh border, on Sunday morning. The teenager had allegedly gone missing on Saturday night after attending a musical programme near a local market.