Man killed in police encounter over niece’s rape and murder

A man accused of raping and murdering his 12-year-old niece was killed in an exchange of fire with police in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district early Monday.

The incident took place in Raiganj when a police team went to arrest the accused, identified as Dilip Roy, in a village near the West Bengal-Bihar border.

Police officials said Roy opened fire at the team, prompting officers to return fire in self-defence. He was injured and taken to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. A bullet fired by Roy reportedly struck a tyre of a police vehicle.

Police had been searching for Roy for four days after the girl’s partially decomposed body was recovered from a forest near the Kulik River. Officers said they received information that he was hiding in the Gauri gram panchayat area and launched an operation there.

According to family members, the girl went missing on November 3 after leaving home on a bicycle. Her body was recovered two days later from a forest near the river.

A police officer said Roy had allegedly taken the girl to the forest on the pretext of showing her the Kulik River, where he allegedly raped and killed her.

Police said Roy’s ancestral home was in Jharkhand and that he was attempting to flee West Bengal through the Bihar border.

This is the fourth reported police encounter in West Bengal since the BJP came to power in the state in May, according to the report.

In July, a man accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl was killed in a police encounter in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas district. On October 27, another accused, Prahlad Das, was shot dead by police in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, after the body of a Class XI student was recovered. On the same day, Samarul Haque, arrested in connection with the murder of a BJP worker in Murshidabad district, was also killed in an exchange of fire with police.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said police were authorised to respond with gunfire when attacked, describing such action as self-defence. He also said the government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards crimes including rape and murder, drug trafficking and illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.

State minister Dilip Ghosh said those who violated the law would have to face the police.

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