Dhanbad: Two alleged members of the Prince Khan gang were shot in the leg during an exchange of fire at Nirankari Chowk under the Barwadda police station limits, while a third managed to escape.The injured have been identified as alleged shooter Nazir Ansari(36) of Putki and Irfan Ansari (35) of Wasseypur. Both were admitted to the Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital under police security, police added.SSP Prabhat Kumar said, “The three gang members had arrived on a motorcycle to collect Rs 5 lakh as extortion from a land dealer in the Barwadda area. Acting on prior information, a police patrol reached the spot and intercepted them. The criminals allegedly opened fire, damaging the police vehicle. Police retaliated, hitting Nazir and Irfan in their legs.”“A search operation has been launched to arrest the third suspect, who escaped. One of the suspects was allegedly in contact with Prince’s brother Gopi Khan on the phone. A firearm, mobile phone, and motorcycle were seized, police said.This is the fourth encounter during SSP Prabhat Kumar’s tenure. On Oct 14 last year, criminal Bhanu Manjhi of Jamshedpur was arrested after being shot during an encounter on Raiganj-Tetulmari road under Tetulmari police station area. On March 8 this year, police shot alleged extortionist Sudish Ojha of Vinod Nagar in the leg near Dhanbad Public School under Saraidhela police station area. His associate Dilip Singh was also arrested. On March 16, alleged criminals Kuber Singh alias Aman Singh of Palamu and Vicky Dom of Karkend were shot in the leg in Bhaga-Bandh. Aman Afzal, a relative of Wasseypur gangster Fahim Khan, reportedly suffered a leg injury while fleeing. All accused in these cases are lodged in jail, police said.
