Main accused in the Kislay Kaushal kidnapping case Vicky Thakur alias Pappu Thakur was killed in a police encounter in Patna on Wednesday, police said.The Kislay kidnapping case had become a major issue in the ongoing Assembly elections in the state and today, following the encounter, the state police and the RJD government claimed a major victory. Speaking in Madhepura, RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav said the Opposition parties had tried to defame the state by exploiting the kidnapping issue.Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Nayyar Khan said the encounter took place after a joint team of the Patna police and the Special Task Force surrounded the gangster’s hideout in the city in the early hours of Wednesday. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Secretariat) Arshad Zaman and Danapaur Deputy SP Dilnawaz Ahmed led the team that cordoned off the area near Dumura. When asked to surrender, the gangster and his accomplices began to fire indiscriminately at the police party, said SSP Khan. While Vicky Thakur was killed on the spot in the exchange of fire, other members of the gang managed to escape, he added. A pistol, a revolver and several rounds of ammunition were recovered from the spot, the SSP said.Vicky was a close associate of Chunnu Thakur, who is suspected to be the mastermind behind Kislay’s abduction. Chunnu is presently lodged in the Hajipur jail in Bihar.It was after the arrest of three members of the Chunnu Thakur gang in Delhi two days ago that the police got information about the whereabouts of the gangster, said police.The abduction of the DPS student on January 19 had kicked up a political controversy in the state, coming as it did at a time when the state was going to polls. Kislay returned home on February 2.
