GUWAHATI: Two suspected vehicle thieves were killed in a police encounter in the early hours of Thursday, 3 September, after a stolen commercial vehicle was intercepted at a checkpoint in Marakdola, on the road leading towards Meghalaya.
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Giving details of the operation, ADCP (East) said the incident began when a commercial vehicle was stolen from Fancy Bazar late at night. Panbazar Police Station received the information and alerted all other police stations in the vicinity. OC Dispur later informed that the vehicle was headed towards Sonapur via the Panikhaiti–Digaru road.
Following this, OC Panbazar initiated a chase of the fleeing vehicle, while a combined team of Assam Police set up a naka checking point at Marakdola on the Meghalaya road.
When the vehicle was signalled to stop at the checkpoint, it crashed into a concrete pole. As police personnel approached, the occupants allegedly opened indiscriminate fire, prompting retaliatory fire from the police. In the exchange, two of the accused sustained injuries and were rushed to Sonapur Model Hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival. A third accused managed to escape from the spot.
One of the deceased was identified as Soidul Lashkar, a resident of Cachar, described by police as a "veteran" vehicle thief with around 10 criminal cases registered against him in Assam and alleged involvement in the theft of over 30 vehicles. The other deceased was identified as Babu Singh, a native of Manipur, who also had several criminal cases pending against him.
Police recovered two pistols from the scene, one country-made and one 7.65mm along with two live rounds of ammunition.
A search operation is underway to trace the accused who fled, and further investigation into the case is in progress.