Raxaul, July 4: In an alleged encounter by Nepalese police, an Indian, Manish Kumar Shrivastava, was shot dead in the bordering Birganj town under Parsa district of Nepal in the wee hours of Sunday.

Twenty four-year-old Manish was the third victim said to have been killed in a police encounter in the past one-and-a-half years apart from bro- thers Bhola Kumar (28) and Mohan Kumar (24) who lost their lives in a similar way.

According to residents, Manish used to run a food stall, while the Kumar brothers were employees of an electric and cellphone shop respectively.

“After the first two incidents of alleged encounter, the protesting locals of Raxaul had damaged several vehicles bearing Nepali registration number plates once they crossed the border to enter Indian territory,” said Yogendra Sharma, a resident and the owner of a vehicle with a Nepalese registration number.

“Whenever police of the neighbouring town comes under pressure owing to any criminal incidents there, taking advantage of the porous border between the two countries that allows free movement of their nationals either side of the border, in order to ease the pressure of act against the criminals, the Nepalese police have always preferred to kill the un-influential Indians in the name of encounter,” Om Prakash Prasad, a resident, said.

According to reports reaching from Birganj through Parsa superintendent of police Ramesh Kharel, some criminals suddenly attacked the patrol party near Sirsia Chowk on Lipni Dry Port Road in Parsa district and in retaliatory firing by the police, a man was shot dead on the spot who was later identified to be a resident of Raxaul.

Manish’s father, Harendra Prasad Shrivastava, said: “One Gopal Prasad Yadav, a member of the patrol team and a close aide of the Parsa superintendent of police, reportedly took away Manish from Kaurihar Chowk on the pretext of some urgent work and later killed him in the night.”

Raxaul deputy superintendent of police Rajeev Ranjan has confirmed the killing in an alleged police encounter in Birganj last Saturday.

Saying that the Nepal police will probe the incident only, he added: “I have asked relatives of the victim to contact Parsa police and request them for a thorough probe in the matter.”

He said Manish had no criminal antecedent nor any case registered against him with any police station under Raxaul area.

On the other hand, the Parsa police claimed that it had recovered a country-made pistol along with two live cartridges from the possession of the victim.

The Parsa superintendent of police has reportedly denied to have lodged any case against the victim there.