In a stern warning directed at criminal elements following an attack on two policemen in Uttar Dinajpur district, West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar on Thursday said: “If someone fires at police, we will respond with four times the force”.
Kumar was speaking to mediapersons in Siliguri a day after an undertrial prisoner overpowered two policemen escorting them and opened fire before fleeing in the Goalpokhar area of Uttar Dinajpur district.
The injured officers, assistant sub-inspector Deben Baishya and constable Nilkanta Sarkar, are currently undergoing treatment at a private nursing home in Siliguri’s Matigara area.
On Thursday morning, Kumar visited the injured officers at the hospital and held a closed-door meeting with senior police officials, including the inspector general of North Bengal, the Siliguri police commissioner, and SPs from various districts. After the meeting, he visited the site of the attack to review the situation.
“They are injured. I am here to see them… A general message to my colleagues. We normally provide security to citizens and ensure that they live peacefully. But if any criminal fires at us, we will fire back four times. We are basically trained for this. If anyone tries to fire at us, we are trained to deal with it very strongly,” Kumar said.
“The investigation into Wednesday’s attack has started, and we are committed to bringing the culprits to justice. The culprits will be nabbed soon,” Kumar added.
Meanwhile, police said that both the injured policemen “are now out of danger”.
“According to our preliminary investigation, the accused undertrial somehow got a gun from an accomplice while he was inside the court premises. He used that gun and fired at our colleges. We have released the picture of the accused Sajak Alam and his accomplice Abdul Hussain and announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for any information on them,” a senior police officer of Islampur said, adding a manhunt has been launched to nab the accused.
On Wednesday, undertrial, Sajjak Alam, accused in a murder case, was produced at a court in Islampur for hearing. In the evening, while he was being escorted in a prison van to Raiganj jail, Alam urged accompanying policemen in the prison van to allow him to use a toilet. As he disembarked from the prison van, he overpowered two policemen and fired at them before fleeing. The incident took place on National Highway 27 under Goalpokhar police station area.
On the same day, another attack on police personnel took place in Domkal, Murshidabad, where a policeman was injured by a sharp weapon during an operation to apprehend a criminal.
Meanwhile, the DGP’s remarks have drawn mixed reactions. BJP leader Jagannath Chattopadhyay said, “Let police act instead of making bold statements.”
— With PTI