4 Encounters in 24 Hours: UP Police Arrest 8 Wanted Men, 1 Killed

Lucknow: One dreaded criminal was killed and eight other wanted men arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the last 24 hours after four major encounters.

Early on Saturday morning, police caught four members of the Bavaria gang after an encounter in Lucknow’s Krishnanagar area. Two of the gang members were injured during the shootout. According to police officials, the dacoits were recently involved in robberies in Chinnhat, Kakori and Mallihabad areas. The police have also recovered large quantities of ammunition from them. The injured criminals were admitted to the nearby Trauma Centre.

“The injured criminals have been identified as Mahendra alias Mahesh and Manoj alias Chhotu. Both of them are residents of Bikaner in Rajasthan. The other two are Rajesh alias Palha and Ramesh alias Raju. One 12-bore gun, three country-made pistols, live cartridges along with empty cartridges have been recovered from these four,” said SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar.

On Friday, two criminals, carrying cash rewards of Rs 50,000, were injured during a police encounter in Gorakhpur. The shootout took place around 3 am near Ram Nagar Kadjaha in Khorabar. Two police officers were also injured in the incident. “Few days ago, a businessman named Dinesh was shot dead and these two, Manish Yadav and his aide Sandeep, were the main accused. They carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on them. After the encounter, a weapon and a bike were recovered from them,” said Superintendent of Police Ganesh Shaha.

In Muzaffarnagar, a joint team of Special Task Force (STF) Noida and Muzaffarnagar police gunned down a dreaded criminal on Friday. The criminal, Indrapal, carried a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. The encounter began after the police were tipped-off about the criminal’s location. Police got to know that Indrapal was hiding in the jungle with five or six of his aides.

The ensuing encounter resulted in Indrapal being injured and his accomplices fleeing. The dreaded criminal succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Police have recovered a huge cache of live cartridges, two pistols and a gun from the encounter spot.

Furthermore, in Noida Phase III, police arrested two criminals on Friday after an encounter. A stolen car, laptop, mobile phones, two pistols and cartridges were recovered after the shoot-out.

“On the basis of information, vehicles were being checked near Transport Nagar in Sector-69. When police tried to stop two youths for checking, they tried to flee. The duo opened fired on the police when they were being chased. When the police retaliated, the criminals’ car lost control and collided with a divider. After an encounter that lasted for around half an hour, the police arrested both of them,” SP (City) Arun Kumar Singh.

The duo has been identified as Ankit Sharma, resident of Sonipat in Haryana and Rahul, resident of Phulpur in Gautam Buddha Nagar. Both carried a cash reward of Rs 10,000 on their heads.