UP Police on ruthless mission to exterminate criminals, 168 killed in encounters in five years

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Police has been on a ruthless mission to maintain law and order in the state by carrying out encounters.

As per recent data released by the Uttar Pradesh Police, it has gunned down as many as 168 listed criminals. Most of these criminals had rewards ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs five lakh on their heads.

The police arrested 4,557 persons in encounters from 22,234 criminals arrested from March 20, 2017, to November 20, 2022.

Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Prashant Kumar said that as many as 13 police officers were also killed while another 1,375 policemen suffered bullet injuries in the encounters.

However, he added that Uttar Pradesh Police followed Supreme Court guidelines in encounters. To date, not even a single encounter done by the Police since 2017 has come under the scanner of the apex court.

He also said that two criminals carrying a cash reward of Rs five lakh, four carrying a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh, two carrying a reward of Rs two lakh, six with Rs 1.5 lakh and 27 carrying Rs one lakh cash reward along with several others carrying rewards of Rs 75,000 were gunned down by the police in the last five years.

"Under the policy of zero tolerance against crime and criminals, extensive operations against the ganglords and mafias have been undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh Police from 2017. Not just the Special Task Force (STF) but the police of Commissionerates and the District Police are also running campaigns against the gangsters," Prashant Kumar added.

The UP ADG said that a maximum of 64 criminals were killed in the Meerut zone, which also topped the eight police zones in the number of arrests (6,494).

"All the criminals who try to engage with the cops were dealt with seriously. Uttar Pradesh Police have dealt firmly with the mafias and criminals who deliberately attacked cops," he added.

The officer also said that not just encounters, policemen also slapped Gangsters Act, seized criminals' properties, and exterminated more than 50,000 criminals, who ran extortion rackets, after booking them under the Goonda Act.