Thief Fires At Cops Trying To Flee, Killed In Encounter: Assam Police

An accused involved in several theft cases was killed in an encounter when he allegedly fired at police in Golaghat district of Assam, a senior police officer said on Monday.

According to the police, the accused identified as Dilip Sahani alias Lagan Sahani, was caught by the Dergaon police on Saturday along with some stolen articles.

On Saturday night, he was leading a police team to a spot where he had kept some stolen articles when he took out a pistol from the stolen articles and fired at the police team in an attempt to flee and subsequently got killed, Golaghat Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajen Singh told news agency ANI.

The police team also recovered one Italian-made 7.65 mm pistol and two empty cases of 7.65mm live ammunition from his possession.

Sahani was involved in a lot of theft cases over the past several years. He had been creating terror in this area. In the last 2-3 months, he has been involved in more than 10 theft cases. 

"We used our sources and apprehended him with the help of the local public," the SP said.

At around 10:45 pm on Saturday, when the police team reached the Basic Training Centre, which is an abandoned place, instead of showing the stolen properties, he took out a pistol from the stolen articles and fired at the police team, said SP Singh.

In self-defence and to save the government property, the police team retaliated. After some time when the firing was stopped, the area was searched and bullet-injured Dilip Sahani was found, the SP added.

The accused was immediately taken to Dergaon Community Health Centre where doctors declared him dead. "Our investigation is going on. We are trying to find out all the stolen articles," the SP said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)