Man with criminal records, history of contesting polls killed in police firing

Godda: A person, who was wanted in various criminal cases and had contested the Jharkhand Assembly polls on tickets of several political parties, was allegedly killed in police firing early on Monday after he tried to escape from custody in Godda district, a senior officer said.

The accused, identified as Surya Narayan Hansda alias Surya Hansda, had several criminal cases against him in Godda and Sahibganj districts, Dumka zonal IG Shailendra Kumar Sinha told news agency.

“Hansda was arrested by Godda police on Sunday from Deoghar. During interrogation, he had given inputs about weapons and his associates. Based on his confession, he was taken to the location under Boarijor police station area and at that time, his associates fired at a team of police personnel. Hansda also tried to escape from custody. The police retaliated. During the exchange of fire, he was killed,” the officer said.

Godda SP Mukesh Kumar told reporters that Hansda was wanted in 25 cases registered in different police stations of Godda and Sahibganj.

“Police had been conducting raids to nab him. He was running an organised gang engaged in realising levy from transporters, coal and stone-chip mining operators,” Kumar said.

He said that the exchange of fire between police and Hansda’s associates lasted around half-an-hour.

“Two country-made pistols, 25 empty bullet shells, three live cartridges and six misfired bullets were also recovered from the spot,” the SP added.

Hansda contested from the Borio assembly constituency in the 2024 polls on a Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) ticket, but managed a mere 2,937 votes.

In the 2019 assembly polls, he was in the fray from the same constituency as a BJP nominee and secured the second position with 59,441 votes.

He had contested the same seat in 2014 and 2009 on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) tickets, but lost both elections.

Meanwhile, Hansda’s family members, including his mother and wife, have raised doubts over the police firing and demanded a judicial inquiry.

“My husband had been suffering from a typhoid-like disease for the past 15 days. He had become weak and was not physically strong enough to flee from police custody,” Hansda’s wife told reporters here.