Shoot out case: 15 cops to be suspended in Jharkhand

Hazaribagh, June 3: Fifteen policemen, including a havildar, will be suspended in connection with a shoot out incident at a local court on Tuesday, which claimed the life of a notorious convicted gangster and two of his aides soon after their production in the court, a senior police officer said.

Process is underway to suspend fifteen policemen on escort duty on charges of dereliction of duty during the production of the gangster Sushil Srivastav, already a convict in connection with a murder case and languishing in Hazaribagh Central Jail, said superintendent of Police, Akhilesh Kumar Jha.

The members of the rival gang led by one Vikash Tiwari opened indiscriminate firing with AK-47 rifle after they hurled smoke grenade and bomb to scare away policemen on escort duty as they were about to take Srivastav, his aide Ghyas alias Ghyasuddin back to jail following their production in the local court premises in Hazaribagh in Hazaribagh district today.

Apart from Srivastav and Ghyasuddin, another aide Kamal Khan were killed in the shoot out while a havildar Devendra Paswan and Tiwari sustained injuries in the cross firing, police said. Paswan has been admitted in Sadar Hospital in Hazaribagh.

Jha said three special police team has been constituted to conduct raids to apprehend culprits including Tiwari, who were managed to escape following the incident.

Anticipating that the injured Tiwari would seek medical aid in the vicinity of Hazaribagh, Jha said massive raids were being conducted in all possible hideouts after sealing the Hazaribagh township and adjacent areas.

Jha did not divulge details about the policemen to be suspended as the process was underway.

Srivastav, who was already convicted in a murder case, was brought to the court for production in another criminal case pending against him.

PTI