Lucknow, March 21 The Yogi Adityanath government, which has been voted to power for the second time, mostly because of the improvement it brought about in the law-and-order situation of the state, has much to boast about in its policy against criminals.
Additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar said that under the government's policy of zero tolerance against crime and criminals, extensive operations against gang lords and mafia dons, have been carried out by the police since 2017.
As per police data, one criminal was killed every 12 days in the state in police encounters. At least 158 criminals, carrying bounties, have been killed since 2017.
During the same period, 19,999 criminals were arrested, while 3,679 among them sustained injuries when they tried to escape.
As many as 13 police personnel were martyred and 1,245 others have been injured in the crossfire with criminals.
Dacoit Uday Bhan Yadav a.k.a. Gauri Yadav, whose reign of terror even expanded to Madhya Pradesh, was killed during a police encounter in Chitrakoot last year. With around 18 cases, mostly of dacoity and attempt to murder, registered against him, he carried Rs 5 lakh reward from Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Kumar said.
Another criminal, Balraj Bhati, who carried Rs 2.5 lakh reward and had been booked in at least 20 cases, mostly of murder, extortion and attempt to murder, in UP, was killed in an exchange of fire with police in 2018, he added.
At least 61 criminals were killed in Meerut zone and maximum arrests (5,795) were made across eight police zones.
While Gorakhpur police zone recorded just one encounter, the Lucknow police commissionerate topped with seven encounters.
"The Uttar Pradesh police always have given a befitting reply to all mafia dons and criminals who deliberately attacked cops and will continue to do so," the ADG said and added that the state police have followed the Supreme Court guidelines in encounters and till date not even a single encounter since 2017 has come under the SC scanner.
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