Bengal: Man wanted in 12-year-old’s rape and murder dies in police firing

• Dilip Roy, accused of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in Uttar Dinajpur, died in police firing during an operation to arrest him

• Police said Roy opened fire at officers tracking him in Raiganj, prompting them to retaliate

• The incident is the fourth reported fatal police encounter in West Bengal since the BJP came to power

A man wanted in connection with the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district died in police firing during an operation to arrest him overnight, officials said on Monday.

Police said the accused, Dilip Roy, fired at a team that had traced him to a village in Raiganj’s Gouri gram panchayat area. Officers returned fire, injuring him.

Roy was taken to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead, according to a police official.

A senior officer said the team located Roy following a tip-off after searching for him for four days. The officer described the firing by police as an act of self-defence.

According to police sources, a bullet fired by Roy struck a police vehicle’s tyre. Investigators also believed he was planning to leave West Bengal through the Bihar border.

The girl had left home on her bicycle on the afternoon of 3 November and subsequently went missing, her family said. Her decomposed body was later recovered from a forest near the Kulik river. Her relatives said she had been raped and murdered.

The supplied accounts give conflicting dates for the recovery of the body, placing it both on Friday and two days after she disappeared.

Roy’s death is the fourth reported fatal police encounter in the state since the BJP came to power.

In July, Prabhas Mondal, accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, was killed in police firing. Police said he had seized a firearm from personnel while being taken to reconstruct the crime and opened fire at them.

Two other accused were killed in separate police operations on 27 October.

Prahlad Das, who had been arrested after the body of a Class 11 student was found in Gaighata in North 24 Parganas, died in police firing during a crime-scene reconstruction. Police said he had attempted to escape.

Samaul Haque, arrested in connection with the murder of a BJP worker in Samserganj in Murshidabad, was killed in another police encounter that day.

Responding to Roy’s death, state minister Dilip Ghosh said people who broke the law would have to face police action. He said circumstances could compel officers to use such force and urged people to abide by the law.

With PTI inputs