Varanasi: Criminal killed, cop critically injured in exchange of fire

VARANASI: A reward-carrying criminal Rajesh Dubey alias Tunna was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, while a crime branch constable Vinod suffered bullet injuries in chest in Aktha area on Tuesday late evening.
Reports stated that on getting inputs regarding movement of Tunna between Chaubeypur and Sarnath areas, the Crime branch teams cordoned off Aktha area and started a checking drive.
During the same drive, they tried to stop some motorcycle-borne youths when latter opened fire on police team in which Vinod suffered bullet injuries in chest and rushed to a private hospital, where his condition was critical.
When police retaliated Rajesh, who had managed to escape from custody of Ghazipur police in 2017, also suffered bullet injuries. He was also rushed to hospital where he succumbed to injuries.
SSP Prabhakar Chowdhary said that Rajesh was involved in many cases of murder and others mainly in Ghazipur district and a cash reward of Rs one lakh was announced on him after he had fled from Ghazipur police custody in 2017. Details about his criminal history have been sought from Ghazipur, he said, adding that condition of injured constable is critical.