A suspected thief was killed in an encounter with police in Assam’s Kamrup district on Friday, officials said.
Kamrup superintendent of police (SP) Ranjan Bhuyan said the person has been identified by police as Anowar Hussain.
“He has a long record of crimes across Kamrup and other districts. He was injured in police firing in the past but still he was out of reach,” the SP said.
Bhuyan said that based on specific information, an operation was launched at Nahira Satrapara in Dakhin Kamrup’s Palasbari area around 3pm on Friday.
“It is suspected that Hussain was consuming drugs in that area and on seeing police, he attacked them with guns. Since he was not in a normal state, he misfired. After repeated warnings, he kept shooting at police and in defence, officials shot him,” Bhuyan said.
The operation was headed by the in charge of Palasbari police station, Amarjyoti Kakati.
“He immediately attacked us with a gun, but it didn’t harm any of the police. He tried to climb a wall but fell. Again he took the gun and started shooting when we shot him,” Kakati said.
According to the SP, Hussain sustained grievous injuries, and he was taken to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where he died during treatment.
“We believe he received multiple bullets, but it has to be confirmed by doctors. The body has been sent for postmortem and we are waiting for the postmortem report,” he added.
Police said that they recovered a 9mm pistol and bullets during the search. Some empty packets of suspected drugs were found in that area, which suggests that Hussain was consuming drugs, officials said.
The SP said that they are investigating the matter, and a case has been registered at Palashbari Police Station. “He was a mastermind of several criminal activities, and we are investigating the entire thing,” he said.
