SAP constable posted in Bihar’s Hajipur jail shot dead

A special auxiliary police (SAP) constable, deputed as jail guard, was shot dead in north Bihar’s Vaishali district on Monday morning.

Deep Narayan Rai, 50, was killed by unidentified motorcycle-borne criminals near the Hajipur jail, where he was posted, at around 8 am, police said.

Rai, who had joined the SAP following his retirement from the Indian Army, was on way to the jail to report for duty when the incident took place.

The jail is near the busy national highway (NH)-77 that links Hajipur, headquarters of Vaishali district, 22 km north of state capital Patna, to Sonbarsa near the India-Nepal border.

Eyewitnesses said as the criminals opened fire, the guards on duty at the outer gate of the jail took shelter inside the barrack, while passersby ran helter-skelter for safety.

Sitamarhi district transport officer Chitranjan Kumar, who was on way to his place of posting from Patna, saw Rai lying along the NH-77 in a pool of blood and took him to a hospital, where doctors declared the SAP constable brought dead.

Another person, who was injured in the attack, is unconscious and undergoing treatment at Hajipur sadar hospital.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Ajoy Kumar, who is holding charge of SP, said that criminals intercepted Rai near the jail gate and shot him on his head. “Rai had been assigned duty outside the jail gate. We are trying to find out if Rai had entered into arguments with any visitor to the jail recently,” Kumar said.