PATNA, May 3 -- The alleged police encounter of a middle-aged man Ram Dhani Yadav in connection with the killing of executive officer of Sultanganj Nagar Parishad (SNP) has snowballed into a major controversy, with the family of the deceased accusing the police of staging a fake encounter to cover up his political connections. Three days after the incident, Ram Dhani's daughter-in-law Baby Kumari, son Ankit Kumar and daughter Priyanka Kumari came before the media and alleged that the encounter was fake. However, after the allegation, Bhagalpur police around 10.12 pm on Friday issued a four-page press release and claimed Ram Dhani was facing over 28 cases and was killed in encounter while his henchmen opened fire in the course of recovery of firearms used in crime. Four persons, including Ram Dhani's son, have been arrested in the case so far. "My father-in-law was shot by Bhagalpur police behind Sultanganj police station. I was locked up in a room on the second floor of the police station. CCTV cameras installed in the police station were switched off. I was watching from the window that my father-in-law was shot four times by the police," alleged Baby Kumari, adding that police picked her up around 5 pm on Tuesday. She said when her father-in-law came to know about this, he arrived at the police station and told the police that he was the culprit. "Arrest me, you will not do anything to any member of my family," she quoted her slain father-in-law. "I was at the police station. Around 12 o'clock in the night, the police said, 'let's go to collect the dead body of Ram Dhani'," said Baby, alleging that policemen threatened her with dire consequences if she raised voice about the incident. Ankit Kumar, youngest son of Ram Dhani, told reporters that he was studying in a Patna-based library to prepare for a competitive exam during the Sultanganj incident. "My Railway PT exam is clear, after one and a half months the Mains exam is to be held. SNP's chairman Rajkumar Shah alias Guddu had fired at my father in 2023 with the intention of killing him. The government has betrayed my father. He had full faith in the police administration and that was the reason he surrendered," he added He said,"Now that my father has been eliminated on the alleged charge of killing EO Krishna Bhushan Kumar, what is the fault of my mother Neelam Devi, brother Sunny Yadav and Manish Yadav in the case? Why are they being harassed?," asked Dhani's daughter Priyanka Kumari. Bhagalpur SSP Pramod Kumar had on April 29, while talking with media persons at Mayaganj hospital after the encounter, said that Ram Dhani had reached the police station at night in an auto to surrender and was subsequently taken into custody. Late night press communique of Bhagalpur SSP's office said, "As soon as the police team along with Ram Dhani reached near the side of the under-construction road leading to Aguani Ghat bridge, he started shouting and asking the henchmen to open fire. After this the criminals started firing at the police. In retaliation, police fired in self defence and Ram Dhani sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. He was later taken to hospital where he died during treatment." According to the communique, Ram Dhani faced 28 cases including murder, loot, extortion and Arms Act....