UP: Mastermind of bus hijack arrested

Lucknow: The alleged mastermind of the hijack of a bus with 34 passengers on board was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police following an encounter in Firozabad.

The encounter took place at 5 am in a village on Thursday in which prime accused Pradeep Gupta got injured in retaliatory firing, while his aide Yatendra Yadav managed to escape, cops claimed. “The duo was on a motorcycle and opened fire and tried to flee when they spotted police teams," Agra Senior Superintendent of Police Babloo Kumar said.

Gupta reportedly had some monetary dispute with the vehicle owner Ashok Arora, a resident of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. He worked as an agent and middleman at the Road Transport Office in Etawah, according to the officials.

Around a dozen people were involved in planning and executing the bus hijacking from Agra late on Tuesday night.

The bus was recovered from Etawah on Wednesday afternoon, after more than 12 hours of going amiss, with officials saying all 34 passengers on board were safe and on their way to their destinations in other vehicles.