Patna, August 28: Gangster Santosh Jha was shot dead inside the Sitamarhi Civil Court premises on Tuesday. According to media reports, the dreaded gangster was shot at when he was being brought out of the court. The police said that he was shot inside the court premises and that two of the three shooters managed to escape after killing Jha.

Three people were involved in the shooting and Santosh Jha was shot dead while he was being brought outside the court after hearing, said the police.

Twenty rounds of firing took place inside the court premises, according to media reports. The report also said that two of those responsible for shooting Santosh Jha managed to escape while one shooter was caught with the arms.

Initial reports said that Jha was shot right outside the cabin of Chief Judicial Magistrate. He was fired at twice there. The first bullet pierced Jha's head and the second hit his chest.

The police informed that he was dead the moment he was struck by the bullets. However, the police did take him to the hospital where the doctors declared him dead on arrival. The entire court premises was turned into a fortress after the incident, said media reports.

A few days earlier, a shooter from the Santosh Jha gang named Abhishek Jha was shot dead at the Motihari Court in a similar incident.

Santosh Jha had various criminal cases against him and was the main accused and mastermind behind the death of two engineers in Darbhanga, Bihar.

Many people from the Santosh Jha gang were given jail term in the case of killing of the two engineers in Darbhanga. Santosh Jha was arrested last year from a flat in Kolkata. He had more than three dozen cases against him.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2018 05:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).