Gangster bumped off in encounter near Surat

SURAT: An ex-Armyman and former associate of the Chhota Rajan gang, Subhash Bhaskar Nair (40), was killed by the Surat district police on Friday, a day after Nair told a local newspaper he had "several people still to kill".
The encounter took place in Borakhadi village of Vyara taluka, two days after the Surat police brought him from Mehsana in connection with the killing of bootlegger Dipak Patel on May 6.
Nair had allegedly killed prominent Daman-based Congress leader Kalidas Patel in January last year, for a ''supari'' of Rs 50 lakh from bootlegger Ramesh Michael, now in Sabarmati jail.
Three police officials including sub inspector (traffic) SC Yadav, police inspector PP Pradhan and Olpaad subinspector KN Patel were present at the time. Even as a magisterial inquiry has been ordered, senior officers are questioning how journalists were allowed access to Nair.
Nair was killed around 6.15 am on the Surat-Dhulia National Highway no 6. In the custody of the Surat district police till June 9, Nair was being taken for questioning to Navapura where he had allegedly concealed the revolver used in Dipak Patel''s murder, said Surat district SP DJ Patel.
The official story is that Nair snatched head constable Prakash Raghunath''s revolver and fired two rounds at him. As in all police encounters, Raghunath ducked and survived.
Two policemen fired three rounds at close range, hitting him in the chest, abdomen and the lower part of the body, Special IG (Surat range) GK Parmar said. Nair was declared "brought dead" at the Vyara referral hospital.
Attached to the UP-based Jatin Sirohi gang since 1994, Nair was arrested during the last phase of a cosmetic surgery to change his appearance.