Rampur: The main accused in the Gorakhpur NEET aspirant murder case was shot dead by the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF) on Friday night. The deceased has been identified as Mohammad Zubair. The encounter took place in the Rampur district of the state.
According to reports, Zubair had multiple cases registered against him. He also had a Rs one lakh bounty on him. Zubair was reportedly involved in cow smuggling across the state.
After the 19-year-old NEET aspirant, Deepak Gupta, was killed by animal smugglers in Gorakhpur, Zubair was on the run.
On September 16, Gupta was allegedly shot dead by cattle smugglers on September 16. He was preparing for the NEET medical entrance exam in Gorakhpur.
According to reports, when in the wee hours of September 16, a group of cattle smugglers arrived in three separate vehicles to steal livestock from a village, Gupta chased them alone on his scooter. The accused fired at him. The smugglers caught him, forced him into their pick-up vehicle, and drove him around for an hour. They then allegedly shot him in the mouth, killing him, before crushing his head and dumping his body four kilometres away from his home.
After the student's death, Gorakhpur witnessed a tense atmosphere as the locals reportedly blocked the Gorakhpur-Pipraich road in protest, which later turned violent. After the murder, senior police officials, including Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Law and Order), Amitabh Yash, had rushed to the city to personally review the case.
On September 17, the Uttar Pradesh Police had also arrested another accused in connection with the case after an encounter in Kushinagar. The accused, identified as Rahim, reportedly sustained a bullet injury in his leg during the operation.
