AGRA: A dreaded criminal whose illicit liquor brewing business ran in Agra region for over seven years was on Sunday morning shot dead in an "encounter" by UP Police in Kasganj district, 11 days after he had allegedly led an attack on a police team that left a constable dead and a sub-inspector seriously injured.
Police released a photo of the body of Moti Singh Dhimar (35), lying in the dark, illuminated by a beam of torch light with a pistol still stuck on his right hand. Dhimar’s younger brother and an alleged accomplice in the crime, Elkar Singh, had also fallen to bullets in a similar encounter on February 10, a day after the attack on the police team.
On February 9, Dhimar and his aides had allegedly waylaid and attacked constable Devendra Singh (26) and sub-inspector Ashok Kumar Singh who had gone to raid the hooch trader. The cops were stripped of their uniforms, dragged to a field and beaten with iron rods. Devendra succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
As news of Dhimar’s death arrived, local residents in the region sought to compare him with Vikas Dubey of Kanpur, another dreaded criminal who was on the loose till he killed eight policemen in an ambush in July last year. He was also shot dead in an encounter a week after the attack on the police team.
Police had formed six teams to find Dhimar and announced Rs 1lakh for any information leading to his arrest. Superintendent of police (SP) of Kasganj, Manoj Kumar Sonkar, said a team found Dhimar camping near Kartala Road on the banks of the Kali river in Kasganj district.
“We got a tip-off that Dhimar was hiding in a forest near the river. When a police team started cordoning the area at 2.30am, the miscreants opened fire. Policemen retaliated in self defence and Dhimar was shot. He died during treatment at the district hospital, Kasganj. We recovered a looted revolver which belonged to the sub-inspector along with a country-made pistol from him,” the SP said.
Dhimar had been operating over 20 illicit liquor manufacturing units around Nagla Dhimar village of Kasganj. Sources had told TOI that he had a network spread across the Agra region. In the last seven years, 11 criminal cases were registered against him and he was also declared a history-sheeter.