Patna: Five criminals were arrested following an encounter with a joint team of the local police and the Bihar Special Task Force (STF) in the Pandarak police station area under Barh subdivision of Patna district on Monday.Police said they acted on specific intelligence inputs that a group of criminals had gathered in the Diara region with weapons and were planning to terrorise local farmers and loot standing crops. When the joint team reached the spot, the criminals opened fire at the police personnel, prompting retaliatory firing in self-defence.During the exchange, one of the accused, Pranav Kumar alias Dheeraj, sustained a bullet injury in his leg. He was rushed to Barh subdivisional hospital, where he is undergoing treatment. His condition is stated to be stable. The remaining four accused were arrested at the spot. They were identified as Vipin Kumar, Sudal Yadav, Sanjeev Kumar and Sandhir Kumar.Patna rural SP Kundan Kumar said a large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the accused, including two rifles, one single-barrel gun, one revolver, 28 .315 cartridges, 23 LG single-barrel gun cartridges, eight revolver cartridges, four boxes of .315 ammunition, one pistol shell, one revolver casing, one single-barrel gun cartridge and seven empty shells from the spot.“An FIR has been registered against all five accused and further legal proceedings are underway. The injured accused is undergoing medical treatment. Preliminary investigation has revealed that Dheeraj is a history-sheeter with two prior cases registered at Kadamkuan and Bhadaur police stations,” the SP said.He has been booked in several serious criminal cases, including robbery, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and offences under the Arms Act. The criminal antecedents of the remaining accused are being verified.
