After a sensational daylight encounter in the Capital City Ranchi Police arrested three ‘supari’ (Contract) killers who were reportedly were on a mission of killing two city based builders. The encounter took place in Dhurwa after police received a tip-off that some of the criminals armed with sophisticated weapons were planning to kill two city based builders on Sunday.
“After reaching the location, the police spotted some suspicious persons near JSCA Stadium and directed them to surrender but they started firing on the police team while running away towards the paddy fields after falling down from the motorcycle. When we also fired in retaliation and cornered them from all sides after chasing them, two of the criminals surrendered immediately, while the third one succeeded in escaping from the location,” said SSP Ranchi Kuldeep Dwivedi, leading the police team.
Intensive search operation was launched by the police in the area over an hour following which the third criminal was also arrested, he added.
“It was a chance encounter, where the criminals started firing on the police all of a sudden after spotting police near them,” said the SSP. Two pistols, one motorcycle and some bullets have also been recovered from their possession, he added.
The three criminals arrested by the police were identified as JP Shukla, Vijendra Yadav and Munna Rai.
The Police also confirmed that murder of the photographer Sonu Thakur which took place in Sukhdeonagar area on Saturday was done by these criminals only. They were said to have a dispute with him on some trivial issue following which they killed the photographer, who was also a member of the team.
Sources in the police department revealed that the two criminals Shukla and Yadav who surrendered before the Police were said to be of Palamu while the third one Munna Rai, arrested later, hailed from Dhurwa itself. It is however a matter of investigation that on whose direction they had come to kill the builder.
These criminals were supposed kill the builders after calling them for a meeting at a particular location in Dhurwa, said sources.
As soon as the encounter started, all police stations were put on high alert and police force from Dhurwa, Jagannathpur, Doranda and Kotwali Police Stations reached there to assist the SSP. Involvement of at least two more criminals was being suspected in the team of ‘supari killers’ for which the hunt was on.
Though police refused to disclose name of the two builders, Kamakhya Singh and another builder was on the target of these criminals for which they allegedly had taken ‘supari’ for killing them.