LUCKNOW: In a sustained campaign against wanted lawbreakers, the Uttar Pradesh Police has gunned down as many as 168 listed criminals in exchange of fire, most of them carrying cash rewards ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 5 lakh on their head.
The police have arrested 4,557 persons in encounters from a total of 22,234 criminals arrested from March 20, 2017 to November 20, 2022.
ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar said that during the exchange of fire as many as 13 cops also laid down their lives on the altar of duty and another 1,375 policemen suffered bullet injuries.
“Under the policy of zero tolerance against crime and criminals, extensive operations against the gang lords and mafias have been undertaken by the UP police from 2017. Not just the Special Task Force (STF) but the police of commissionerates and the district police are also running campaigns against the gangsters,” he said.
The officer said that dreaded dacoit Uday Bhan Yadav alias Gauri Yadav, whose reign of terror expanded to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, was killed in police encounter in Chitrakoot last year. He carried Rs 5 lakh reward from UP and had around 50 cases, mostly of dacoity, attempt to murder.
The officer cited another criminal Balraj Bhati, who carried Rs 2.5 lakh reward and had been booked in at least 20 cases, mostly of murder, extortion and attempt to murder in Uttar Pradesh, who was killed in exchange of fire with police in 2018.
Kumar said that a maximum of 64 criminals were killed in the Meerut zone, which also topped the eight police zones in the number of arrests (6,494).
“All the criminals who try to engage with the cops willfully were dealt with seriously. UP police have given a befitting reply to all the mafias and criminals who deliberately opened attacks on cops and will continue to do so,” said Kumar.
Kumar also said that UP police followed Supreme Court guidelines in encounters and till date not even a single encounter done by the police since 2017 has come under the scanner of the apex court.
He also said that two criminals carrying cash reward of Rs 5 lakh, four carrying reward of Rs 2.50 lakh, two carrying reward of Rs 2 lakh, six with Rs 1.5 lakh and 27 carrying Rs 1 lakh cash reward along with several others carrying rewards of Rs 75,000 were gunned down by the police in the last five years.
The officer also said that not just encounters, cops also slapped Gangsters Act, and also seized properties of criminals and exterminated over 50,000 criminals, who ran extortion rackets, after booking them under the Goonda Act.
