Wanted inter-state dacoit gunned down by police in Madhya Pradesh jungles

The police were in hot pursuit of Patel and his gang, who have unleashed terror in the past few weeks in the jungles of Satna district in MP and Chitrakoot district in UP.

BHOPAL: A 28-year-old leader of an inter-state dacoit gang operating in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh was gunned down in an encounter by police in the jungles of Satna district on Sunday evening.
 
The police were in hot pursuit of Patel and his gang, who have unleashed terror in the past few weeks in the jungles of Satna district in MP and Chitrakoot district in UP.
 
Patel, with a Rs 1 lakh award on his head, was gunned down in the Pukharwar jungles by a special operation team headed by Satna police superintendent Rajesh Hingankar. The over hour-long encounter, however, didn’t result in any injury or casualties for police.
 
“A 315 bore rifle and a strap containing live cartridges has been seized from near Lalit Patel’s body. With Patel’s elimination, the last big dacoit operating in Satna district has been finished,” said Rajesh Hingankar.
 
Hingankar and his team were in search of Patel and his gang members since June 30, after the gang burnt alive three youth from Satna in the Chitrakoot jungles. The victims were suspected to be police informers and from rival Gopa Yadav’s gang.
 
A week ago, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during his visit to Satna had raised the elimination of the gang. A native of Satna, Lalit Patel alias Satyanarayan alias Joker Patel was cousin to another major inter-state dacoit, Ambika Patel, alias Thokia. Thokia was gunned down by an Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) team led by ASP Anant Deo in Chitrakoot jungles in 2008.
 
After Thokia’s elimination, Lalit Patel, joined the inter-state dacoit gang headed by Swadesh Patel, who carried Rs 6.5 lakh bounty on head. In July 2015, however, Balkhadiya was gunned down by cops in an encounter, after which Lalit Patel regrouped the members and formed his own gang.
 
“Lalit Patel was accused in ten cases in MP, besides a few cases in UP also,” said SP Satna. Patel’s elimination comes a few days after the arrest of two more inter-state dacoits, Gopa Yadav and Khardushan Yadav by the UP STF. While the SP claims that with Patel’s elimination on Sunday evening the last active major inter-state dacoit has been finished in MP, sources in UP police and STF say Babli Kol with a Rs 7 lakh bounty, is still active in jungles along the two state borders.
 

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