Imphal, March 23 2009: In escalating violence, the proprietor of Janta Radio Sales and Services, a popular shop dealing in electronic items was shot dead by unidentified gunmen inside his own shop located at Thangal Bazar here this afternoon.

In the reported follow up action, Imphal West Police Commandos gunned down two suspected activists of the proscribed KCP.

The slain shopkeeper has been identified as Deepak Gupta (40) son of Sunder Gupta of Gurgaon, Haryana but staying at Thangal Bazar along with some family members in connection with his business.

He was hit by a bullet on his left cheek.

Talking to mediapersons in connection with the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police of Imphal West L Kailun, IPS informed that the proprietor of Janata Radio was shot dead by an unidentified armed person inside his own shop at around 3 pm today.

Soon after the proprietor was shot dead, Thangal Bazar area was cordoned off and search operation was launched when the Police Commandos who were fanned out to be on the trail of the killer/s encountered suspected underground cadres and led to an exchange of firing at Nagamapal Kangjabi Leirak Maisnam Leikai.

Two UG suspects were killed in the encounter.

Whether the two slain UG suspects were involved in the killing of the proprietor or not has is yet to be established, the SSP said, adding that the encounter broke out in the follow up action of the police commandos.

Out of the three unknown gunmen who entered the shop, one of them shot at the proprietor in the presence of other salesmen.

After committing the crime, the assailants fled on foot towards the south.

According to one of the salesmen who was an eye-witness, out of the three assailants, one was a woman carrying a child.

The woman entered the shop along with another man and requested for a talk with Deepak .

When Deepak insisted on having the talks inside the shop itself, the woman took out a pistol from her bag and handed it over to the man who opened fire at Deepak.

The proprietor was immediately rushed to the RIMS Hospital but he was declared brought dead.

Subsequent to the killing of the proprietor, the shop has been sealed by the police and frisking operation of the passengers-by was conducted after cordoning off some portions of Thangal Bazar area.

Many people have also been interrogated but there is no report of any arrest made.

Even as the frisking operation was underway, the two suspected cadres of KCP were killed by the Imphal West Police Commandos during an alleged shoot out at Nagamapal Kangjabi Leirak Maisnam Leikai.

Hearing the report of the shoot out, the SSP also rushed towards Kangjabi side from Thangal Bazar along with additional force.

Police claimed to have recovered one 9 mm pistol with magazine loaded with three live rounds of ammunition, one Chinese made hand grenade and a Kinetic Honda scooter bearing registration number MN-1J/3139 and three unaddressed extortion notes of KCP signed by its fund raiser in-charge of Imphal West District Pamel Meetei from the possession of the two slain UG suspects.

However, local residents of Nagamapal have refuted the police claim asserting that the alleged UG suspects were brought to be killed there by the police commandos.

The local residents also claimedthat they heard the police commandos shouting at the alleged UG suspects to run before being gunned down.

Meanwhile, the corpses of the slain UG suspects have been picked up and kept at the mortuary of RIMS Hospital for identification and post-mortem examination.

According to police report, out of the two slain UG suspects, one of them was clad in olive green T-shirt and smoke-grey cargo pant and appears to be non-local or Muslim while the other was clad in white T-shirt, grey colour track pant and sports shoes.

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