West Bengal saw its fifth victim of a police encounter in six months with accused Ratan Sheikh shot dead at Nanoor in the Birbhum district on Sunday.
The history-sheeter had shot at police constable Biswajit Das on Friday while the police tried to arrest him. The constable is battling for his life in hospital after being shot above his left knee. On Sunday, after the incident, CM Suvendu Adhikari said the police had done their job.
“The police have done their job. There is no place for criminals or rapists in West Bengal," he declared.
The accused was taken to the Bolpur sub-divisional hospital where he was declared brought-dead. Sheikh hailed from the Santra village under Nanoor police station limits, and would frequently change his hideouts to evade arrest.
Sheikh was accused in 12 cases over multiple charges, including theft, robbery, mugging, and drug trafficking across the Nanoor, Bolpur, and Santiniketan police station areas. He was on bail in connection with a 2023 case, though an arrest warrant was pending against him in another case.
Shiekh shot at Constable Das on Friday while three plainclothes policemen on motorcycles attempted to arrest him at Bottala, in Layekbazar, Bolpur. He managed to escape their clutches after shooting Constable Das.
The first of the five encounters over the last six months was in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas on July 8, where Prabhas Mondol—the main accused in the gang-rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl—was taken to the crime reconstruction scene and was shot at when he fired at the police in an attempt to escape.
The second was on October 27 in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, where rape- and murder-accused 23-year-old Prahlad Das was killed after he shot the police in an escape attempt.
The third was in Samsergunj in the Murshidabad district, when Samaun Sheikh was shot on the first floor of a market where he lived. Samaun, who was accused of killing BJP worker Sujit Mondol was shot in a police encounter while trying to escape.
The fourth and most recent before Sunday was on November 9 in the Uttar Dinajpur district, where Dilip Roy—accused in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl—was shot during a similar escape attempt.
