The “disoriented” former Sashastra Seema Bal jawan from Dibrugarh, who was on the run after triple murders, was shot dead by police in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday after three hours of negotiation to make him surrender failed to make headway.

Sanjay Das, 52, had shot dead his wife Swapna, 48, son Nabajyoti, 22, and maternal uncle Ghanakanta Hazarika, 76, with his .32 caliber licensed pistol at his house in Hukanpukhuri locality of Dibrugarh town in Upper Assam on Monday.

After committing the murders, he fled.

The police immediately launched a massive manhunt and sounded a red alert across all police stations in the district and the border areas.

Around 11.30pm, they received information that the accused was hiding in an abandoned building of the state fishery department, less than 300 metres from his house.

A large police force, led by Dibrugarh superintendent of police Sreejith T, additional superintendent of police (headquarters) Padmanabh Baruah and officers-in-charge of Dibrugarh and Barbaruah police stations, rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

For the next three hours, a stand-off followed as the police tried to make him surrender. However, the accused refused to surrender and instead fired at the police team.

Finally, he was gunned down by the cops.

ASP Baruah said, “For more than three hours we tried to convince him to surrender. We asked him to throw his firearm and even used stun grenades to force him out of his hiding place but he refused to budge. He started firing at the police sporadically. When we asked him why he had killed his son and wife, he said he had no idea what made him kill them. He even said that he would surrender only after killing one of his relatives. He seemed disoriented and also cried once. When our policemen finally tried to reach his location by using a ladder, he fired at them. He was armed and dangerous and as our men’s lives were at risk, we had to return fire which ultimately resulted in his death.”

The police said he was an alcoholic and a gambler and had taken loans from people.

A local resident said, “He had retired from service about six years ago and was getting regular pension. He was an alcoholic and a habitual gambler but how he developed the addictions is not known. His was mentally unstable and sometimes quarrelled with his family members under the influence of his addictions.”

Locals said a few days back he had sold his car to a person from Dhemaji district for gambling.

They said he frequently quarrelled with his family members and relatives and creates a ruckus in the neighbourhood.