LUCKNOW: Acting on a tip-off, Lucknow police nabbed four members of a criminal tribe gang from Rajasthan following an encounter in a Khera village of Krishnanagar locality on late Friday night.
Those arrested were identified as Mahendra alias Mahesh, a resident of Bikaner, Manoj alias Chhotu of Alwar, Rajesh alias Patla and Ramesh alias Raju. Of the four arrested, Mahendra and Manoj sustained gunshots and were admitted to the district hospital while rest two were taken into custody.
The gang was encountered while they were going to strike at a prominent trader’s house.
A single barrel gun, three country-made pistols, live bullets, a syringe and an injectable used by the goons to turn their targets unconscious, were recovered from their possession.
It may be recalled Lucknow had witnessed four back-to-back dacoities in a span of five days between January 18 and January 23 in Chinhat, Kakori, and Malihabad, all on the outskirts.
According to the police, the gang was involved in total 11 incidents of dacoities in Lucknow, Barabanki, Farrukhabad, Bikaner and Kayamganj. They used to move on bikes and four-wheelers. The police said that they had done a recce of their target and its surroundings in the guise of door-to-door sellers.
Besides this, a gangster was killed and over two dozen criminals, wanted in multiple cases, were nabbed in 15 encounters across 10 districts of the state in the past 60 hours. At least eight of those arrested were carrying cash reward on their head ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000.
A majority of gangsters picked up during the last 60 hours, hailed mainly from western UP districts, including Saharanpur, Shamli, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagr, Hapur, Meerut and Baghpat. Some arrests were also made in central and eastern parts — Gorakhpur, Kanpur and Lucknow. Police recovered arms, ammunition apart from cash, jewellery and cars most of which was looted by those listed criminals.
Beginning with Muzaffarnagar, Special Task Force did in list criminal Indrapal, who had a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. Indrapal hailed from Ghaziabad and was wanted in 33 criminal cases.
In Bulandshaher, police arrested a wanted gangster Mukesh from his residence in Jahangirabad police circle. Mukesh carried a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head.
Similarly, in Hapur, Aas Mohammad, of Gautam Budh Nagar and Ashu, of Ghaziabad, were injured in an operation. Police recovered two country-made pistols from them and a car looted by them.
Meanwhile, in Gorakhpur, the police nabbed two goons – Manish Yadav and Manoj, each carrying a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on head. Both the miscreants received police bullet shots and were admitted to BRD Medical College where their condition was stated to be stable.
In Lucknow, the police arrested Naresh Bhati and his associate Kuldeep Jaat recovering a carbine and a pistol from them after an ambush in which Bhati suffered bullet injuries and was undergoing treatment.
Similar arrests were made in Kanpur following an exchange of fire on Wednesday. Public relation officer (PRO), DG headquarters ASP Rahul Srivastava confirmed that 15 encounters had taken place till Friday evening.