Hajipur: Accused flees after killing cop near juvenile justice board

PATNA: One Prince Kumar, accused in at least nine cases of loot, dacoity and drug smuggling, fled with his associates after they killed a Bihar police havildar in front of the juvenile justice board (JJB) under Town police station area in Hajipur town of Vaishali district in Bihar on Tuesday.
Hajipur district jail superintendent Ramesh Prasad said the accused was a juvenile according to one of the case records lodged with Patepur police station in 2016, while in the rest eight cases, he was a major, according to documents.

“It was due to this, Prince was produced before JJB for a single case, while in rest cases, hearing was going on in a regular court,” he said.

Vaishali SP Rakesh Kumar said the deceased, Ram Ekbal Ram (50), was escorting the accused from JJB to the district civil court premises after production when he was shot twice.

The SP said Ram was rushed to the district sadar hospital, but died during treatment.

“Two empty cartridges were recovered from the spot. Police were scanning the CCTV grabs of the area in which three suspects were visible,” he said, adding, the assailants were armed with country-made semi-automatic weapons.

The SP said that at least nine cases of loot, robbery, dacoity and drug-smuggling were lodged against the accused with different police stations in the district. He was lodged in the district jail for at least last one year.

Meanwhile, police sources said that after being brought to the civil court premises from the district jail, the accused was lodged inside the court lock-up.

“The JJB is located across the road near civil court premises and the deceased policeman took him for production after which the incident took place,” sources said.

Police sources also said that soon after reaching the court premises, the accused started creating nuisance that he was not feeling well and was pressuring the policemen to produce him soon before the board.

“He fled on a bike with one of the accused along with the handcuff,” sources said. They said that while Prince was a native of Garaul in Viashali, the deceased policeman was a native of Punpun in Patna.