A police officer was killed in a scuffle during a raid to arrest an absconder in Araria district of Bihar on Thursday. Six of the involved have been arrested following the incident.
The deceased officer — Rajiv Ranjan Mall — was an assistant sub-inspector (ASI). He was a part of the team that went to Lakshmipur village under Phulkaha police station area on a tip-off to arrest Anmol Yadav, wanted in various cases of possession of illegal arms, illicit trade in liquor, narcotics smuggling and other offences.
“We had received intelligence inputs that Anmol would attend a wedding in the area. Our team led by Phulkaha station house officer (SHO) raided the place and nabbed him. But his supporters attacked the police officials to free him,” Araria superintendent of police (SP) Anjani Kumar said.
“ASI Rajiv Ranjan Mall fell during the scuffle with the supporters of Anmol and became unconscious. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared him dead,” Anjani added.
The dead body of Rajiv was sent for postmortem while an FIR was registered at the Phulkaha police station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against 18 named and 20 to 25 unidentified accused.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed under Forbesganj sub-divisional police officer Mukesh Kumar Saha in the aftermath of Rajiv’s death. It conducted raids and arrested six of the named accused. Further operations are going on to nab the other people who were involved in attacking the police and freeing Anmol.
Those arrested include Lalit Kumar Yadav, Prabhu Kumar Yadav, Pramod Kumar Yadav, Shambhu Yadav, Kundan Yadav and Lalan Kumar Yadav. While Prabhu is from Bhimpur in Supaul district, the rest are from Phulkaha and Narpatganj in Araria.
The deceased ASI was a native of Janaki Nagar in Munger district. He had joined the police force as a constable in 2000 and got married in 2001. His family stays in Patna and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Rajiv’s body was later taken to Araria police lines where the district magistrate, SP and other police officers paid their tributes. His body was later sent to Patna for cremation.
Opposition leaders including RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Congress Bihar unit president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Purnea MP Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in the state over the rising crime graph and deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
