Two accused men were shot dead by police in separate incidents in Bengal on the same day during crime-scene reconstruction exercises, according to a Times of India report that also records official claims that both men tried to seize firearms and escape. The report does not independently establish the circumstances of either shooting, while its description of the state’s political leadership contains an unresolved inconsistency that requires verification.
The first incident took place at about 2.30am in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, involving Prahlad Das, 23, who had been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl. Police said Das asked the officers escorting him to stop near Baidyabati, around four kilometres from the India-Bangladesh border, so he could relieve himself.
According to the report, Das allegedly snatched a revolver from a sub-inspector and fired three rounds while attempting to flee. Police sources said one officer was injured and that the sub-inspector jumped into a roadside canal to avoid the gunfire. Police then fired four rounds, three of which struck Das in the chest, abdomen and right thigh. He was taken to Chandpara Rural Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
The girl had gone missing on Saturday after attending a musical programme near her home. Police said she left the venue at about 11.30pm after receiving a phone call. Her naked and battered body was found the next day behind Das’s house, and he was arrested on charges of rape and murder. Police took him to the site late on Monday to reconstruct the alleged sequence of events.
The second shooting occurred about 250 kilometres away in Murshidabad’s Shamsherganj at approximately 2.30pm. The deceased, Samiul Sheikh, 46, was being questioned in connection with the murder of BJP worker Sujit Mondal. The report said CID personnel alleged that Sheikh tried to seize a firearm and escape during a reconstruction exercise.
Sheikh was declared dead at Anupnagar BPHC. Mondal, 46, a resident of ward 13 of Dhulian Municipality, had been missing since August 28. His wife, Sumana, filed a missing-person complaint and told police that he might be in danger because he had been pressing a friend in Farakka to repay a debt. On September 4, parts of Mondal’s body were recovered from a river.
The report said CID sources attributed a confession to Sheikh, who allegedly told investigators that he had lured Mondal to an isolated location near the Shamsherganj-Farakka border, strangled him, dismembered his body and dumped the remains near Ballalpur bridge. It said a financial dispute was being examined as a possible motive. The account is based on police and CID claims contained in the report; the supplied material does not include an independent account of the shootings or the alleged confession.
The state administration had transferred the murder investigation to the CID on September 7. The report said three officers of Shamsherganj police station and the officer in charge of the Dhulian police outpost were suspended, while the station inspector was placed under watch. The Farakka sub-divisional police officer was transferred and the Jangipur superintendent of police was warned over alleged negligence.
The report also quoted Suvendu Adhikari as saying that police had been given a free hand to act against drug abuse, narcotics trafficking and crimes against women. It identified him as the chief minister, but the supplied material does not clarify that designation or reconcile it with the state’s political offices. That attribution must be checked before publication. The central facts requiring confirmation are the identities and official roles of the authorities quoted, the police version of both shootings, and the status of any formal inquiry or post-mortem findings.
