PATNA: Police neutralized a home guard jawan in a shootout assuming him to be a Maoist on the Bariyarpur police station premises in Munger early Tuesday morning. The deceased, Mohammad Zahid (48), was posted at the same police station only four days back. He hailed from Bakarpur in Munger.
Police said Zahid went rogue under depression and started firing from his service rifle from the police station washroom towards barracks and other installation in the darkness. Assuming that it was a Maoist attack, policemen returned the fire, said Munger SP Manavjit Singh Dhillon.
He said since Zahid was killed in a police encounter, a report would be sent to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). “The body inquest was done by deputing a magistrate. Postmortem was videorecorded and conducted by a medical board as per the NHRC guidelines. An FIR has been lodged against Zahid and further investigation was on,” he said.
“Police made announcements on megaphone asking him to surrender and identify himself. He was pinpointed inside the washroom after searching every room and corner of the police station in the dark around 2am,” he told TOI.
Dhillon said the guard had fired ten rounds out of the 50 rounds allotted to him. He said Zahid’s service rifle, 40 live cartridges and his cellphone were recovered from the spot.
“Mein kukhyat hu.. Aaj mein tum sab ko bhoon dalunga.. (I am notorious… I will shoot you all down today…),” Dhillon quoted Zahid as saying when he was asked to identify himself and surrender. The SP said his utterances gave an impression that Maoists had attacked the police station. An SOS was sent to five adjoining police stations from where policemen reached Bariyarpur.
Dhillon said whenever any policeman attempted to move towards him, Zahid opened fire.
He said Zahid was under depression for personal reasons and taking medicines. “He had married twice. His first wife is from Munger but they didn’t have cordial relation. He again married a woman from Bhagalpur around 15 years back,” he said.
Dhillon said Zahid’s second wife, along with their 13-year-old son, had reached Bariyarpur police station on Monday to take him back for treatment. “He had refused. The family has been asked to produce relevant documents regarding his medication,” he said.
He said Zahid had gone to sleep after dinner at around 8pm. The SP said Zahid is seen in the CCTV camera footage rushing out of his room in civil uniform with his rifle and additional cartridges at around 11.45pm. “He was then spotted taking position behind a tree and trying to aim at a policeman passing by. From there he went to the bathroom complex,” he said.