Wanted Criminal Shot Dead In Uttar Pradesh Encounter

An alleged criminal, Gufran, was shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Kausambi district on Tuesday morning. Gufran, a resident of neighbouring Pratapgarh district, was wanted in more than a dozen cases and carrying a reward of Rs 1.25 lakh on his arrest.

At around 5:00 am,  Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force team was conducting a raid near Sambda village in Kausambi following which Gufran was confronted. Gufran, who open-fired at the police, was soon shot during the cross-firing and later rushed to the district hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. 

Gufran had 13 cases of murder, attempt to murder and robbery registered against him in Pratapgarh district and a reward of Rs 1.25 lakh was also declared on his arrest, the police officer added. The ADG of Prayagraj Zone and the Sultanpur district had declared rewards of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 25,000.

During the shooting, one carbine, pistol and a motorcycle were seized from Gufran, the official added.

Encounters in Uttar Pradesh

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, according to data by PTI.

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.