The main accused in the Kislay Kaushal kidnapping case, Vicky Thakur, alias Pappu Thakur, was killed in a police encounter in Patna on Wednesday.
Senior Superintendent of Police N H Khan said the encounter took place during a joint operation by the Patna police and the special task force.
A police team, headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Secretariat) Arshad Zaman and his Danapaur counterpart Dilnawaz Ahmed, acting on a tip off, cordoned an area near Dumura outpost in Shastri Nagar in Patna where Thakur and his accomplices were hiding.
The officials asked them to surrender, but the criminals fired indiscriminately at the police party, Khan said. In the ensuing encounter Vicky Thakur was killed on the spot. The other members of the gang, however, escaped under the cover of darkness.
One pistol, a revolver and several rounds of ammunition were recovered from the slain criminal, he said.
Thakur, a close associate of Chunnu Thakur who is now lodged in the Hajipur jail in Bihar and who allegedly masterminded the kidnapping, was planning to flee from Patna, as the police had got information about his whereabouts, Khan said.
Two days ago, the Delhi police had arrested three aides of Vicky Thakur. A Patna police team is in New Delhi to take their custody.
Kislay, a seventh class student, was abducted while he was on his way to board his school bus in Patel Nagar on January 19. The incident sparked off public outcry against the spurt in abduction of school children in Bihar. Kislay returned home on February 2.
With PTI inputs
