Lucknow: As many as 178 encounters have taken place in the past six years in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. The UP police had gunned down as many as 178 listed criminals in exchange of fire since March 2017. Most of them carried cash rewards ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 5 lakhs on their heads.
Every 13th day, a listed criminal was killed in a police encounter in the state in the past six years. Police arrested 23,069 criminals following encounters between March 20, 2017, and March 6, 2023, of which 4,911 were injured. ADG (Law and order) Prashant Kumar said that during the exchange of fire, as many as 15 cops also laid down their lives while another 1,424 policemen suffered bullet injuries. According to the UP police dossier, 28 criminals were eliminated in police encounters in 2017, while 41 in 2018, 34 in 2019, 26 each in 2020 and 2021, and 14 were eliminated in 2022.
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On June 28, 2019, two wanted criminals, who were on the run for 23 years, were shot in an encounter at Barabanki just hours before they planned to loot a bank. Police claimed Zubair (48) and Lomas (46), both Sitapur natives, carried bounties of Rs 50,000 on their heads and committed at least 110 crimes. Police Teams of Meerut and Muzaffarnagar on July 16, 2019 shot dead western UP’s dreaded gangster Rohit Saandu and his three close aides in two separate encounters within four hours.
On July 25, 2020, Gangster Tinku Kapala, who had a bounty of Rs 1 lakhs on his head, was killed in a joint operation by the UP police and Special Task Force in UP's Barabanki. Bangladeshi gangster Hamza was killed in an encounter on October 18, 2021, with the Uttar Pradesh police in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar area. Gangster Vinod Kumar Singh, carrying a Rs 1 lakh bounty on his head, was killed in Uttar Pradesh on September 30, 2022, during an exchange of fire between him and the Jaunpur police under Badlapur Police Station limits.
However, on April 13, 2023, two accused involved in the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal has been killed in an encounter by the police. Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad has been killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh police in Jhansi. Asad was wanted in the killing of advocate Umesh Pal. Another accused in the case, Ghulam, with a bounty of Rs 5 lakhs on his head, was also killed in the encounter led by Deputy SPs Navendu and Vimal. The operation was carried out by the UP police's Special Task Force (STF).
