A man impersonating a lawyer shot dead a history-sheeter inside a court premises in Lucknow on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as  Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva.

Taking a serious note of the incident and to find lapses in the security provided to a dreaded criminal inside court premises, the Uttar Pradesh government formed a three-member Special Investigative Team (SIT). The team will submit its report to the government within seven days.

Police apprehended the assailant, identified as Vijay Yadav of Jaunpur, and confirmed the death of Sanjeev Maheshwari. In the firing, an 18-month-old girl, Laxmi, and a constable, Lal Mohammed, also sustained injuries. The girl was admitted to the ICU of Balrampur Hospital and the constable was also provided first aid.

Senior police officers rushed to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control even as lawyers staged a massive protest, raising slogans, and highlighting laxity inside court premises and lack of safety gadgets. The protest brought the traffic movement between Kaiserbagh bus depot and Swasthya Bhawan crossing to a standstill.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central, Aparna Rajat Kaushik said the history-sheeter, Maheshwari, was shot dead at the door of the ST/SC courtroom (III) while being taken for a hearing.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Nilabja Chaudhary said they were yet to ascertain the sequence of events while the accused was being interrogated.

Jeeva was said to be a dreaded gangster in Western Uttar Pradesh and his name spelled terror among businessmen, company owners, contractors and even government officials overseeing construction projects. He was also said to have been associated with the gangs of jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari and slain Munna Bajrangi. He had been lodged in Lucknow jail for the past many days and was brought to the court for an appearance in connection with a case.

After Munna Bajrangi’s murder inside Baghpat jail in 2018, Jeeva had claimed threat to his life. His wife had also claimed a threat to his life recently. He was also said to have been involved in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, an MLA from the Mohammadabad seat in Ghazipur, who was peppered with bullets along with six others in Ghazipur by a group of assailants laced with AK-47 assault rifles in 2005. Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari had been named as conspirators in the FIR.

The three-member SIT will be headed by ADG (Technical Services) Mohit Agarwal while the other members include IG (Ayodhya Range) Praveen Kumar, and JCP (Crime) Nilabja Chaudhary.

Nilabja Chaudhary said one accused had been apprehended and identified as Vijay Yadav of Jaunpur. He had come to the court in the garb of a lawyer. “The police are interrogating him and trying to ascertain the motive for murder,” he said.

“On Wednesday, Sanjeev was to appear before a Lucknow court in a case of murder, attempt to murder and ST/SC Act registered with the Gomti Nagar police in 2015,” a senior police officer said.

The incident evoked angry protests from lawyers who questioned security arrangements inside the courtroom. Senior police officers, including ADG (Lucknow Zone) Piyush Mordia, who is also holding charge as Lucknow police commissioner, reached the crime scene along with the SHOs of nine adjoining police stations, PAC personnel and about a 100 cops. They also pacified the lawyers, who had virtually gone berserk, and were damaging police vehicles, alleging police failure.

A senior lawyer said that it was a usual day in the court. “Around 3:50 pm, we heard several rounds of fire outside the court of ADJ (III) Narendra Kumar. There was blood splattered all around. A stampede-like situation ensued even as we were unaware of what had transpired. In the meantime, a group of lawyers nabbed the accused, Vijay Yadav, and pinned him down,” an advocate said.

Another advocate, Prabhakar Singh, wondered how an armed man was allowed to enter the court premises. He said checking at the gates must be intensified. “It is a complete failure of the police,” he remarked.

A local resident, Jagat Pal Mishra, who is an eyewitness and who helped in rushing the 18-month-old injured girl to the hospital, said a man donning a lawyer’s robe suddenly opened fire with a rifle. “We all nabbed him and pinned him down,” Mishra said.