Uttar Pradesh polices said it had killed a 48-year-old gangster with a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head in an encounter in Gonda in the morning on Saturday.
According to the police, a special task force got information that the gangster, Vijay Singh from Ambedkar Nagar district, was planning a crime. They laid a trap and spotted him coming on a motorcycle in the Paraspur-Nawabganj area around 6.00 am. The police claimed that when asked to surrender, the gangster opened fire and that when the cops fired in retaliation, their bullet hit him. He was taken to hospital but declared dead on arrival, they added.
The police also claimed to have recovered a .32 pistol, a cell phone and a motorcycle from him.
Vijay was wanted for the murder of Sachin alias Puju Tiwari, who was shot dead in January last year. Also known by the aliases Bijendra Singh and Biji, the gangster had around 17 cases, including of murder, robbery and attempt to murder, against him in different police stations of Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Amethi districts, according to police.