Person with criminal records, history of contesting polls killed in police firing in Jharkhand

A person, who was wanted in several criminal cases and had contested Jharkhand assembly polls on tickets of several political parties, was allegedly killed in police firing early on Monday after he tried to escape from custody in Godda district, a senior officer said.

The accused, identified as Surya Narayan Hansda alias Surya Hansda, was wanted in several criminal cases in Godda and Sahibganj districts, Dumka zonal IG Shailendra Kumar Sinha said.

“Hansda was arrested by Godda police on Sunday from Deoghar. During interrogation, he had given inputs about weapons and his associates. Based on his confession, he was taken to the Lalmatia forest area and at that time, his associates fired at a team of police personnel. Hansda also tried to escape from custody. The police retaliated. During the exchange of fire, he was killed,” the officer said.

Hansda contested the Borio assembly constituency in the 2024 polls on a Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) ticket but received a mere 2,937 votes.

In the 2019 assembly polls, he was in the fray from the same constituency as a BJP nominee and secured the second position with 59,441 votes.

He had contested the same seat in 2014 and 2009 on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) tickets but lost both elections.