The accused, identified as Dilip Roy, was allegedly attempting to evade arrest after the girl’s semi-decomposed body was recovered from Kulik forest on November 6. She had gone missing three days earlier, on November 3, after leaving her home on a bicycle.
According to police, investigators received information from a confidential source about Roy’s whereabouts and conducted a raid near Gauri Gram Panchayat around 3 a.m. on Monday.
Police claimed that when the team attempted to apprehend him, Roy opened fire. The personnel retaliated in self-defence, leaving him fatally injured. He was also reportedly attempting to flee towards another state through the nearby Bihar border.
The girl’s body was recovered after her family reported her missing and subsequently lodged a complaint alleging rape and murder. Her remains have been shifted to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, where a post-mortem examination is scheduled.
The incident marks the fourth reported encounter killing in West Bengal since July this year, with three cases involving accused persons in alleged sexual assault and murder of minors.
In July, Prabhas Mondal, accused in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Baruipur, was shot dead during a police operation. In October, Prahlad Das, accused in the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in Gaighata, was killed in another encounter. Police had claimed in both cases that the accused attempted to escape and opened fire during crime-reconstruction proceedings.
On the same day as the Gaighata incident, Samiul Sheikh, arrested in connection with the murder of a BJP worker in Samserganj, was also killed in a police encounter.
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