Balurghat, April 7: The Gangarampur circle inspector was killed and eight other policemen were injured in a road accident today.

The police team, headed by the circle inspector Narayan Chandra Roy, was returning to Gangarampur after a night-long raid on criminal dens at Malda’s Kaliachak when their van turned turtle at Deotala in South Dinajpur.

The injured policemen were taken to Malda Hospital, where five of them were admitted in a critical condition.

Gangarampur subdivisional police officer Rabindranath Sarkar said Roy, 55, was admitted to the hospital with head injuries and referred to a Calcutta Hospital to get a CT scan done.

The police officer was being taken to Calcutta in an ambulance this afternoon when he succumbed to his injuries. “Roy was an able officer,” Sarkar said.

The driver of the police van, Sukumar Pramanik, was shifted to Calcutta this evening after his condition deteriorated.

Doctors said he had complained of chest pain after the accident.

The accident dealt a blow to the dacoity investigation, which has caused a ripple in the district.

A gang of 30 dacoits raided the house of jute trader Jagadish Jajoria on Saturday night, making off with Rs 8 lakh.

The dacoity took place at Shib Bari, barely 2 km from the Gangarampur police station.

Roy and his team raided different areas at Kaliachak in neighbouring Malda district through the night after receiving a tip-off that some of the dacoits were hiding out there. But the raid proved futile.

The tired police team was returning to Gangarampur when the accident happened. Police sources said they suspected that the driver might have dozed off at the wheel, leading to the accident.

Sources said the driver was “exhausted” since the police team had carried out raids the previous night as well.

Workmen, meanwhile, restored the telephone connection to the jute trader’s house, disconnected by the dacoits.

“I still have no idea who those people were and why they chose to raid my house,” Jajoria said, adding that he had never seen them.

The trader said he did not have enmity with anyone. “No one can accuse me of even refusing to pay subscriptions. I still do not know why they targeted me.”

Jajoria said he could not inform the police during the robbery since his telephone connection was cut off.

“The police came almost as soon as I reported the dacoity to them. But by then, the dacoits had fled by crossing the river,” he said.