Wanted criminal gunned down in encounter in UP

A wanted criminal, named in more than a dozen cases, was killed in an encounter with the police in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district early Tuesday morning, officials said.

Gufran, a resident of neighbouring Pratapgarh district, was injured in an exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force near Samda village in the Kaushambi district, Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said.

He was rushed to the district hospital where the doctors declared him dead, the police officer said, adding Gufran had 13 cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery and loot registered against him and was carrying a total reward of Rs 1.25 lakh on his arrest.

The ADG of Prayagraj Zone and the Sultanpur district had declared rewards of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively, on him, a senior official said in Lucknow.

One carbine, pistol and a motorcycle were seized from Gufran, the official added.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had in April said that they have gunned down 183 alleged criminals in encounters in the six years of Yogi Adityanath's government.

In May, Uttar Pradesh STF had gunned down Anil Dujana, an accused in 18 cases of murder, in an encounter at a village in Meerut.

The encounter took place on the day of polling for the first phase of the urban local body elections in the state.

The Yogi Adityanath government's major poll plank has been its 'strict' handling of law and order.

The UP Police data showed that more than 10,900 police encounters have taken place in the state since March 2017, when Adityanath took over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time. In these encounters, 23,300 alleged criminals were arrested and 5,046 were injured.

Of the 13 policemen killed in encounters since March 2017, eight were ambushed in a narrow lane in a village in Kanpur district by the aides of notorious gangster Vikas Dubey.

Dubey was shot dead by police when he tried to escape while being brought to UP from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

Police said Dubey's vehicle had overturned during the transit and he had snatched a policeman's gun.