Hazaribagh/Jamshedpur, June 2: Fear gripped Hazaribagh lower court premises on Tuesday morning at around 10.35 after a man opened fire with his AK-47 gun.
The broad day light shoot out saw three people, including an undertrial criminal Sushil Srivastav being killed while two others sustained serious inquiries.
Police recovered AK-47 gun, two magazine, Bolero SUV and smoke grenade.
According to reports, man fired 30 rounds of bullets while police informed that around 14-15 rounds of bullets were fired. A police constable Devendra Paswan, who was accompanying them, also received bullet injuries.
Superintendent of Police Hazaribagh Akhilesh Kumar Jha said that one of the men was injured in police firing when he tried to run away while the district borders have been sealed to apprehend the criminals.
Sushil Shrivastava had been in jail for the last five years on charges of extortion. His aide was accused of murdering another criminal, the police said.
Jha further informed that Sushil Srivastav, who had been in jail for the last five years on charges of murder case and lodged in Hazaribagh jail, was brought to the court today for trial in another case of criminal offence, when unidentified assailants fired indiscriminately, killing the gangster, a resident of Patratu town, and his two aides who had come for the hearing.
Sushil Srivastav was brought to the court for hearing of a murder case that took place in Patratu Police Station area in Ramgarh District.
Soon, three criminals of Bhola Pandey gang entered the court premises and started firing were Sushil Srivastav along with his two aides Kamal Khan and Gyas Khan, police officer Devendra Paswan and Ramgarh collectorate employee Jolen Soren were injured. All the wounded were rushed to Sadar Hospital were Kamal Khan died while Sushil Srivastav breathed his last when he was taken to RIMS Ranchi while Gyas Khan died on the spot.
An old rivalry between the gangs of Srivastav and Kishore Pandey was blamed for the outrageous court shootout, the SP said adding in October last year two aides of Pandey were shot dead and his nephew injured in a shootout between the two gangs at Kadma Market in Jamshedpur.
“The attackers fled from the spot abandoning their vehicle when police retaliated,” a police official said.
“Two men came in carrying an AK-47. They started firing and two persons died on the spot. We are going to demand for security in the court,” an eye-witness said.
“The Kishore Panday gang brought the AK-47 and started firing.� We have initiated a search operation,” Upendra Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Hazaribagh told reporters.
A massive hunt was on to apprehend the culprits who managed to escape, police said.
Maintaining security is a problem, acknowledged Mr Singh, saying frisking “each and every one” is not possible given the huge crowds.
“Jharkhand is witnessing murders, robberies and other crimes and the state government is claiming that the situation is under control,” said Alok Dubey, a Congress leader.
According to sources, Vikas Tiwari was one of the men involved in the shootout. After the incident, DC, DIG, district judge and other officials inspected the shootout venue.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das has, however, taken the incident seriously and directed the police to nab the assailants involved in the incident, officials here said.
