Patna: Maoist-gangster Santosh Jha, who was awarded life imprisonment a few months ago in connection with the engineers' double murder case in Darbhanga district, was shot dead on the Sitamarhi court premises on Tuesday.
This is the second murder in a court compound this year in Bihar. On July 16, Abhishek Jha, one among the 10 persons convicted in the Darbhanga engineers' murder case, was gunned down on the premises of the Dhaka sub-divisional court in East Champaran district.
On May 11 last year, Babloo Dubey, whose name once spelt terror in north Bihar, was shot dead inside the Bettiah civil court in West Champaran.
Police said on Tuesday that three youths armed with illegal weapons fired at Santosh (42) when he was being escorted from the court to the hazat (lock-up) after his production in a criminal case. The assailants pumped at least three bullets into Santosh's temple and chest from close range in the presence of heavily armed security personnel.
As Santosh, who was facing charges of murder, kidnapping, extortion and loot and was believed to have been active even from behind bars, fell to the ground, the assailants fled the spot. Santosh was rushed to the Sitamarhi sadar hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Sitamarhi superintendent of police (SP) Vikas Burman said the incident took place around 2.45pm. The assailants fired at least 20 rounds in the air to create panic among those present in the court compound. The cops managed to nab only one of the shooters, identified as Vikas Kumar, a resident of Chakia in East Champaran district.
Shooters surveyed site
Vikas is learnt to have told his interrogators that the trio had surveyed the site a day before and the weapons were hidden on the court premises.
"The police have seized a pistol and a loaded magazine from the arrested youth," Sitamarhi SP Burman said.
Police sources said 32 serious criminal were pending against Santosh, a resident of Dostiyan village under the jurisdiction of Purnahiya police station straddling Sitamarhi and Sheohar district. He was awarded life term along with nine others in the killing of two private engineers - Mukesh Kumar and Brajesh Kumar - in Darbhanga on December 26, 2015, for extortion money.
Sitamarhi district magistrate Ranjit Kumar Singh reviewed security arrangements soon after the court murder. "Action against the policemen deployed on the court premises will be taken for security lapses," he said.
The DM said that undertrial prisoners accused of serious crimes were brought to court from jail as the district court lacks video conferencing facility. "I had done security check in the wake of a similar incident in East Champaran district where an undertrial prisoner was killed," he added.
SP Burman said that 11 policemen assigned to escort the undertrial have been suspended and departmental proceedings initiated against them.
He said a policeman had a miraculous escape when he tried to catch hold of one of the three assailants.
Santosh had apparently employed 40 youngsters in his gang, which is equipped with sophisticated weapons like assault rifles. He shot into notoriety after the murder of a mukhiya at his native village in 2001. His name figured in the killing of Umashanker Singh, a supervisor of a private power corporation in Sheohar, on December 7, 2015. Earlier, he was blamed for the murder of a Maoist, Gaurishankar Jha.
