Kolkata, July 8 -- Over the past few days, the usually quiet town of Baruipur has been thrust into the spotlight following a series of shocking events. The area first witnessed the rape and murder of a minor, followed by public outrage that culminated in the lynching of a man. The horror took another turn on Wednesday when gunshots shattered the silence of Surjyapur shortly after midnight as one of the prime accused in the rape and murder case, allegedly snatched a policeman's service pistol and tried to flee during a crime scene reconstruction. Prabhas Mondal was shot by the police moments later.

In another breakthrough, police, on Wednesday, arrested the fourth accused, Kabir Molla, from Basirhat in North 24-Parganas. He had been absconding since the body of the minor girl was recovered from a pond at Surjyapur.

According to police sources, around 12.45 am on Tuesday night, an SIT team took Prabhas to Surjyapur to reconstruct the crime. During the exercise, he allegedly snatched the service pistol of Roni Sarkar, a plainclothes officer of Canning police station attached to the SIT, and fled.

Police claimed Prabhas fired a round at the pursuing officers, following which Arghya Mondal, a plainclothes officer of Baruipur Police Station and another SIT member, fired two rounds. The bullets struck Prabhas in the abdomen and below the chest. He was rushed to Baruipur Sub-Divisional Hospital, where he was declared dead.

The encounter has raised questions over how an accused in police custody managed to seize a firearm and whether the weapon's safety lock had been engaged.

As part of the mandatory inquiry into the police firing, investigators will visit the encounter site to collect evidence and reconstruct the sequence of events. The firearms used by the police personnel will be sent for forensic examination, while statements of all officers present during the operation will be recorded and cross-verified. Investigators will also ascertain the distance between the accused and the officer who fired the shots, and examine the post-mortem findings to corroborate the sequence of events.

The encounter also recalled a similar incident in 2025 when murder accused Sajjak Alam was shot by police in Uttar Dinajpur's Chopra after allegedly opening fire on officers while attempting to flee towards the Bangladesh border following his escape from police custody. Alam later died while undergoing treatment.

Prabhas's mother, Sandhya Mondal, refused to accept her son's body, saying he had "got the result for what he did" and that she never wanted to see his face again. His wife, Champa Mondal, also distanced herself from him, saying she had endured prolonged abuse and could not claim he was innocent. The victim's father said the family had faith in the police, the administration and the Chief Minister, and was satisfied with the progress of the investigation.

The incident of encounter sparked a political debate between the ruling BJP and Opposition parties in Bengal, with the latter claiming that such encounter culture is being imported from Uttar Pradesh in Bengal and that it's an extrajudicial killing. BJP leaders have remarked that the present state government knows how to deal with goons.

Meanwhile, police have so far arrested 20 people in connection with the widespread violence that erupted after the murder. An innocent man, Indrajit Mondal, was lynched by a mob driven by rumours, while rioters torched police vehicles, vandalised public property, attacked policemen and disrupted train services before the situation was brought under control.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.