Notorious gangster gunned down by police

Dreaded gangster Pravin Shintre, who was wanted by the police in several cases of rape and murder, was killed in an encounter with the police in Belgaum yesterday.

The gangster had been arrested by a special team of policemen from a lodge in Udupi in the wee hours of Thursday and was brought to his rented accommodation in Belgaum, where Shintre had reportedly snatched a revolver and tried to fire at a policeman.

The police inspector, who escaped the shot, retaliated by opening fire at the gangster and killing him on the spot.

Karnataka’s Home Minister M P Prakash has justified the killing of Shintre in a police encounter. “He tried to escape and the police had to open fire at him, which led to his death”, Prakash told reporters in Bangalore.

Pravin Shintre had been on the run ever since there was a public outrage against the rape and murder of Sheetal Chougale, the wife of a prominent contractor Ravindra Chougale in a contract killing.

After eluding the police for several weeks, Shintre was finally arrested at a lodge in Udupi in the early hours of Thursday. Police said Shintre had made an attempt to escape from the clutches of the police when he was being brought to Belgaum. But, his efforts were foiled.

After reaching Belgaum, Shintre was taken to Rajdeep bungalow, his rented accommodation, where the gangster and his henchmen had carried out a series of rapes and murders. The shoot-out had taken place the same bungalow, police said.

Police said Shintre was wanted in a total of 38 criminal cases, including rape and murder. Shintre and his gang is accused of murdering at least seven people in the bungalow in the last few weeks and thrown their bodies in the river that flows behind the bungalow.

A host of women’s organizations in Belgaum had launched an agitation seeking the arrest of Shintre. Hundreds of women had taken to the streets in Belgaum last Friday, enforcing a dawn to dusk shutdown of the town to build pressure on the police to nab the elusive gangster and his henchmen for their inhuman crimes.
The failure of the police to bring Shintre to book had even taken a political colour with the Opposition Congress party accusing the Government of shielding the notorious gangster.