LUCKNOW: Last day, the UP police shot dead the second accused in the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal who was a winess in the MLA murder case. The encounter took place in Kaudhiyara area of Trans Yamuna near Prayag Raj on Monday morning. BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi tweeted that the accused Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman, a resident of Amokhar village, was killed in a police encounter. Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma confirmed this.

Arbaaz, another accused in the case, was also killed in an encounter on February 27. After Yogi Adityanath took over as the Chief Minister of UP, killing of criminals in police encounters has become common.

178 criminals killed in encounter

During the six years of Yogi government’s rule in UP, the police killed 178 listed criminals who were notorious. Among these were criminals who had a bounty of Rs 75,000 to Rs 5 lakh announced on their heads. According to this figure, a criminal is killed in a police encounter in UP every thirteen days.

Many criminals have surrendered before the police out of fear during the encounters that took place between March 20, 2017 and March 6, 2023. Police have arrested 23,069 criminals during this period. Of these, 4911 people were caught injured in the encounter.

Attacking police would lead to death

In UP, criminals who shoot at the police or unleash violence usually get killed. Fifteen policemen have lost their lives in the last six years due to attacks by criminals. Most of those responsible for this have been killed in the police encounter. UP Police has given a befitting reply to all the mafias and criminals who deliberately attacked the policemen. At the same time, the UP Police says that the guidelines of the Supreme Court have been followed in the encounters, so not a single encounter in UP since 2017 has come under the court's observation.

Bulldozer Raj

Along with guns, bulldozers are used in UP to deal with criminals. Bulldozers are used to demolish the houses of criminals which are built on illegally occupied land. Apart from this, the government does not hesitate to seize the properties of those who impose the Goonda Act. The police have tried to teach manners to about 50,000 criminals in the state through this kind of harsh measures.