18 years back someone else was killed instead of Jeeva in Jaunpur shoot-out

Eighteen years ago in Jaunpur, police had said that Jeeva was killed in an encounter. Later, it was revealed that he had escaped but the slain miscreant could not be identified.

Jaunpur: The murder of gangster Sanjeev Jeeva in the Civil Court premises of Lucknow has brought back memories of an encounter that took place 18 years ago in Jaunpur and the negligence of the Uttar Pradesh police.

On July 26, 2005, in an encounter between four miscreants and police, two miscreants were killed and two had escaped. One of the slain miscreants was identified as Vijay Bahadur Singh, a resident of Malihabad and the other was told to be Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva. But later, it was revealed that he was alive and was among the two miscreants who had escaped. The second slain miscreant could not be identified for many years following which, police had closed the file.

On that day, police received information about four miscreants riding on a car from Badlapur to Jaunpur, firing bullets. The car had crashed through the barricades that were set up by the police. After parking their car near Shahbandagi Dargah in Nagar Panchayat Mohalla Nashi, the miscreants fled in two directions. While passing through Nashi locality, two of the miscreants were surrounded by the police in Shahbadepur village. The miscreants had then abducted Latu Ram Yadav's daughter Chanda Devi at gunpoint and locked the door of the house from inside while police surrounded the house.

At the end, police took Chanda out of the house and both the miscreants were killed in the shoot-out. The then Superintendent of Police, Jaunpur Abhay Kumar Prasad and other officials identified the two slain miscreants as Vijay Bahadur Singh and Jeeva. Also, a 45 bore pistol and a 32 bore revolver were recovered from the miscreants.

For many years the police kept saying that Jeeva was killed in the encounter. Later, it was revealed that the miscreant who died was not Jeeva but someone else. The other miscreant could not be identified and finally, police closed this file.

When contacted SP Jaunpur Dr Ajay Pal Sharma said the matter will be verified after investigating it and the unknown miscreants will be traced.