Dreaded gangster Shiekh Hyder was shot dead by police when he allegedly tried to flee from police custody while being shifted from the Choudwar jail to the Baripada jail on Saturday afternoon.
Hyder succumbed to bullet injuries at a hospital in Baleswar.
Twin City Commissioner of Police Soumendra Priyadarshi said Hyder had sustained injury from a solitary bullet fired at him by an escort staff in self-defence when the gangster tried to snatch away the SLR from one of the police personnel in a bid to flee.
The police personnel warned Haider, but he turned a deaf ear to the warnings following which police were forced to resort to controlled firing to prevent him from escaping, Priyadarshi said.
Police sources said Hyder had suffered critical injuries in the firing around 3.20 pm when he tried to flee from a jail van while being taken to a jail in Baripada. The team had left with the gangster from Choudwar jail at around 10 am on the day.
A Sub-Inspector had fired at Hyder when the latter tried to flee by attempting to snatch the weapon of a guard in the escort team..
Police said Haider asked the escort team to stop the van as he wanted to attend nature’s call. However, soon after stepping down from the vehicle, the gangster tried to escape and, in the process, tried to snatch a firearm from one of the security personnel.
Hyder had tested positive for Covid following his arrest in the dramatic escape from the SCB Medical College in Cuttack in April 2021. The Odisha police managed to nab the fleeing gangster from Hyderabad.
The police decided to shift the gangster to Baripada following the police ascertained that he was back to his old ways and was trying to revive his crime syndicate, while being in jail.
Haider, who started his criminal career in the nineties, came to limelight following him and his gang members eliminated his arch rival Suleman’s brother Chunna in Bhubaneswar.
He was also involved in the kidnapping and murder of mines owner Rashmi Ranjan, which had created a sensation in the State. He was sentenced to life in both the cases to undergo life imprisonment.
He was wanted in more than15 cases in Kendrapada, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Nayagarh and Balangir. He was infamous for being involved in murder, extortion and tender fixing.
Though he was in jail, he managed to run his criminal network from jail, which gave sleepless nights to police.