DHAKA: Four people, including a police ASI of Pallabi thana, were wounded by bullet in separate encounters in Kadamtali and Pallabi areas of the capital early Thursday.  

Official sources said Kadamtali police, taking an arrested “miscreant” named Gopal with them, went to Shyampur WASA pump area in line with his confessional statement to recover firearms in the early hours of Thursday.

They recovered a shutter gun and two bullets from the scene. But Gopal’s cohorts started firing at police.

“As police replied, a gunfight ensued. During the encounter, Gopal was hit by bullet in his leg,” says a police account of the shootout.

He was taken to Dhaka Medical Collage Hospital.

Police, however, could not arrest anybody as the “miscreants retreated”.

Gopal is an accused in a dozen cases, including murder. Local people caught him from Balur math area under Kadamtali police station in the morning on the previous day and handed him over to police.

In another incident, a police sub-inspector of Pallabi  thana,  Abdul Latif, sustained bullet wound in a gunbattle with extortionists at Pallabi Wednesday.

Police said a gang of extortionists went to the house of garment jute trader Abdur Razzak and demanded Tk 10 lakh as toll. Getting information, police moved in. The extortionists, sensing the presence of police, opened fire on the police. “A gunfight ensued as police fired back,” says an official version on the incident.

Police arrested two wounded “terrorists” from the spot along with one pistol and three bullets. Other extortionists of the band fled the scene.
 
The wounded ASI was admitted to Rajarbagh police hospital.  

BDST: 01:38 Hrs, June 10, 2010.
SRR/MS/EH/MUA