Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Tuesday gunned down a suspected liquor smuggler in an encounter in the Dildarnagar area of Ghazipur district. Zahid alias Sonu was accused in the murder of two Railway Protection Force personnel and was said to be carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh.
The suspect suffered severe injuries in the gunfight late Monday night and was declared dead at the district hospital in Ghazipur in the early hours of Tuesday, the officials said.
The operation was launched by the Noida unit of UP STF and the local Ghazipur police team, said Additional Director General (Law and Order and STF) Amitabh Yash on Monday night, reported PTI.
RPF constables Javed Khan and Pramod Kumar were killed on the intervening night of August 19-20. The constables were trying to stop the smuggling of illegal liquor in 15631 Barmer Guwahati Express, said the ADG.
The two constables were brutally beaten up by the liquor smugglers who then threw the two policemen off the moving train, as a result of which they died.
"Zahid was the main conspirator of the August 19-20 incident," said Ghazipur Superintendent of Police Iraj Raja. We had received inputs about him once again trying to smuggle liquor on the same route near Dildarnagar.
A team of the Ghazipur Police and the Noida unit of STF rounded up Zahid, ensuing a gunbattle in which he suffered severe injuries. Two policemen also suffered injuries," Raja said.
Zahid was taken to a community health centre from where he was referred to the district hospital. The doctors at the district hospital declared him dead, he said.
He died following the encounter, Raja said, adding that further legal proceedings are being carried out.
The Ghazipur SP also said that six other persons involved in the August 19-20 incident had already been arrested following two separate encounters.