Undertrial prisoner shot dead in East Champaran court

An undertrial prisoner was today shot dead in Sikarahna sub-divisional court premises in Bihar's East Champaran district by bike borne gangsters who had come to help him flee, police said.

The undertrial, identified as Abhishek Jha and aged around 30, had already been convicted in a murder case, the deputy superintendent of police Alok Kumar Singh said.

He was rushed to a hospital at Motihari where he was declared brought dead by the doctors.

The incident took place when the undertrial prisoner, a resident of Sheohar district, was being taken to the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate at Sikarahna for production in a case relating to extortion, the DSP said.

The prisoner had thrown chilly powder into the eyes of the police personnel who were accompanying him to escape from the clutches of the police personnel accompanying him, he said.

Two of his men, who had come to whisk him away, fired at the security guard but it accidently hit Jha and he died, the DSP said.

The two accomplices fled the scene immediately after the incident, he added.

East Champaran superintendent of police Upendra Kumar Sharma and Sikarahna sub-divisional magistrate Gyan Prakash visited the spot, he said.

Police recovered one pistol, three live cartridges and three empty cartridges, he added.