Dreaded gangster shot dead in Bihar court

Jailed gangster Santosh Jha, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two engineers, was shot dead on Tuesday in the premises of a court in Bihars Sitamarhi district, police said.

He was charged with 32 murders and extortions in North Bihar.

Santosh was fired thrice on his chest from close range by the criminals, according to the Sitamarhi police.

Deputy SP of Sitamarhi, Veer Virendra said he was being escorted by 11 armed policemen, including an officer from jail to court. The criminals took advantage of the crowd in the court premises and fired on him.

Police claimed one of the criminals was caught by the people. He is being interrogated and according to the preliminary investigations, the dreaded outlaw who was once area commander of the Maoists in North Bihar was killed in gang rivalry.

Santosh had shot dead two young engineers- Mukesh Kumar and Brajesh Kumar at Benipur with AK 56 on December 26,2015. He had demanded extortion money for allowing the private engineering company to go ahead with construction works in Darbhanga. After murdering the two, he had escaped and was arrested last year from a running train.

The additional sessions judge, Rupesh Deo had convicted him for life on February 26, 2018.

He had escaped from the jail and murdered another engineer of a private electricity company at Sheohar. He was rearrested again and was in judicial custody.

He used to operate from jail.