Two men, one accused of a BJP worker’s murder and another of a minor girl’s rape and murder, have been killed in separate encounters with police in West Bengal in the past 24 hours.

Prahlad Das, accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, was shot dead in an encounter late on Monday, police said. Hours later, the police said Samaul Sheikh, who was accused of murdering BJP worker Sujit Mondal, was shot dead in a gunfight with police in Murshidabad on Tuesday evening.

According to the police, in both incidents, the accused were taken for crime scene reconstruction when they snatched firearms from the police teams accompanying them and were killed in retaliatory firing.

Police sources said a Class 11 student went missing from her home in North 24 Parganas on Saturday. Her body was found near her neighbour’s house on Sunday.…