The premises of Jamshedpur court turned into a battlefield as one of the three assailants opened fire at fugitive and notorious criminal Akhilesh Singh when he entered the court for his trial on Saturday morning.
Though the fugitive miraculously escaped unhurt; however, his supporters gathered at the court premises caught hold of the assailants and assaulted them badly.
The police personnel soon came into action and two persons were arrested with arms and ammunition while another was injured. The police suspect the attack result of rivalry between members of two gangs in Jamshedpur.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Amol V Homkar said that the police have arrested two assailants. The trouble started when three members of a rival gang arrived in the court premises to eliminate Singh who was being brought for a hearing. One of them was detained by Singh's supporters who thrashed him badly following which he was rushed to Tata Main Hospital with serious head injuries, police said.
Homkar said two other members were arrested with arms and ammunitions. Singh who was serving a life term in connection with the murder of Sakchi jailor about a decade ago, was brought for production in the court in connection with other pending cases.
Meanwhile, police have launched a drive to nab other culprits, who managed to escape from the court premises during the attack. Senior police officials reached the spot and restored order following which the court functioned normally.
Singh had been arrested at Noida in Uttar Pradesh by a joint team of UP and State police in 2011. He was nabbed while he was coming out of a shopping mall. Notably, the arrest of Akhilesh Singh had become a challenge for the police and administration, which had declared a reward of `2 lakh on the head of the fugitive.
Son of Chandragupt Singh, general secretary of Jharkhand Police Association, Akhilesh set up a network extortionists and shooters.
The 36-year-old don stepped into the crime world by abducting the lubricant merchant Om Prakash Kabra on July 21, 2001. After his name figured in the Kabra abduction case, he had surrendered in the court on August 6, 2001. He fled the judicial custody on February 18, 2002. He was arrested from Varanasi on October 7, 2004. On September 2, 2007, he was granted a parole for attending his ailing mother. Since then he was absconding.