Lucknow: In yet another encounter, the Uttar Pradesh Police gunned down a shooter in an encounter in Lucknow on early morning Monday when the alleged criminal made an attempt to escape from the custody after attacking a constable and snatching his pistol, police claimed.
The Lucknow Police Commissioner DK Thakur told mediapersons that a Police party was taking Girdharai to Gharagpur area to recover weapons used in the sensational murder of Ajit Singh. When they stopped after reaching the area and asked Girdhari to get down, the shooter hit his head on the face of Sub-Inspector Akhtar Usmani and snatched his pistol.
The SI started bleeding profusely and before the police party could catch hold of the shooter, he started firing with the pistol snatched from the SI and ran towards bushes. The police also retaliated and in the ensuing gun-battle, the shooter was gunned down. He was rushed to Lohia Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Carrying a reward of Rs one lakh, Girdhari alias Kanhaiya Vishwakarma was the main shooter in the murder of Ajit Singh, a mafia don from Jaunpur. Girdhari and others had sprayed as many as 25 bullets on Ajit Singh on January 6, killing him on the spot. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on January 11 and was brought to Varanasi by the UP Police on a production warrant. He was then taken to Lucknow and was on a three day remand with the capital police.
During interrogation by Lucknow Police, the shooter revealed that he was a close associate of an Eastern UP mafia don-turned-politician. Girdhari had also named mafia don’s shooters Kuntu Singh, Mustafa, Rajesh Tomar and Shivendra in the murder of Ajit Singh.
Earlier, the UP Police had shot down another history-sheeter Vikas Dubey in a similar encounter near Kanpur when he allegedly tried to escape after snatching the weapon of a police man. He was being brought to Kanpur from Ujjain where he was arrested. Dubey was involved in killings of eight police men, including a Deputy SP when a police party went to arrest him from Bikru village in Kanpur rural.
