An outlawed leader of the Purba Bangla Communist Party was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police at Jugnipasha Telipukur of Phultala upazila early yesterday.
The deceased was identified as Sohel Rana, 25, son of Wahab Ali, a resident of Abhoynagar upazila in Jessore district. He was the second-in-command of the party.
Elias Fakir,officer-in-charge of Phultala police station said on a tip-off, a team of police conducted a drive in Paigram Kosba and arrested Sohel on Friday.
He was wanted in several cases, including three murder cases, the OC added.
After interrogation, police along with Sohel conducted a drive in Jugnipasha Telipukur area for recovering firearms around 3am yesterday.
Sensing presence of the law enforcers, associates of Sohel opened fire at police, prompting the law enforcers to fire back, triggering a gunfight, police said. Sohel was caught in the line of fire and injured while his associates managed to flee the scene.
Later, he was rushed to Phultala Upazila Health Complex where on-duty doctors declared him dead.