DANAPUR, Nov. 7 -- Three men, including two alleged contract killers, were killed in a police encounter near bank of Ganges in Sherpur under the jurisdiction of the Maner police station on Friday morning, said police. During the exchange, the station house officer (SHO) of the local police station narrowly escaped injury when a bullet grazed his uniform. Police identified the deceased as Raja Kumar (alias Suraj Sharma), Bablu Kumar Yadav, and Jai Prakash Yadav (alias JP). According to authorities, the three were wanted in connection with the October 19 murder of Sanjit Kumar, president of the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS). In that incident, which occurred at Beyapur, a second individual, Pintu Kumar - the husband of the Maner Block head -- sustained a gunshot wound to his thigh. Investigators also linked Raja Sharma to the November 2024 murder of former Panchayat Samiti member Uday Prasad Yadav in the Akilpur police station area of the Saran district. Police stated that all three men were associates of Shambhu Yadav, a local politician and gangster who is currently evading arrest. However, the relatives of the deceased protested in the Sadar hospital premises for about five hours, raising questions about the encounter. People clashed with the police, threw stones on policemen and broke the window panes of three government vehicles. After considerable effort, the police used mild lathicharge and calmed down the situations. Later police sent the bodies to Patna AIIMS for postmortem examination. Earlier, deceased family members caught a locals and thrashed mercilessly in the presence of people on the charges of police spying. The police worked hard to save him. Pataliputra MP Misha Bharti, who also visited Danapur Sadar hospital, stated that action is being taken against a particular caste. City SP (Central) Chandra Prakash informed Misha Bharti, "A three members medical board constituted for their postmortem with fully videographed. If you do not cooperate, we will face problems. Then we will have to take legal action". Patna SSP Kartikeya Kumar Sharma said police were preparing for operations as part of crime prevention. During this, the STF and the district police force were conducting operations in different areas. We received information that some criminals, who had a previous criminal history, had arrived here and were planning to carry out a major incident in Sherpur. When police team immediately arrived at the scene, upon releasing they were surrounded, the criminals were fired on the police team, prompting the police to retaliate. The fire exchange lasted about 20 minutes. Three criminals were critically injured in the intense encounter; they were rushed to hospital, where doctors declared them dead," said SSP Sharma. SSP said the incident occurred around 4.30 am, police fired 18 rounds, while the suspects fired more than 24 rounds....