Three persons wanted in several cases of heinous crimes, including extortion and dacoity, were gunned down in an encounter in a joint action by Gwalior police and crime branch on Monday.
The three criminals were brothers and each of them carried a reward of Rs 5,000. Some police personnel were also injured in the encounter.
Additional Superintendent of Police Pratibha Matthew, who led the encounter, said the police were looking for the miscreants in a case of extortion on Sunday in which they had fired at the victim from a close range.
Matthew said the police personnel were on the lookout for the goons on Monday morning when they received a tip-off about the location of the miscreants. Immediately, the police swung into action and spotted them at Dang Wale Baba.
She further said that on seeing the police, they started firing indiscriminately in order to escape. The police personnel returned fire in which two of the miscreants were killed. The third tried to run away while firing but he was also hit by a bullet and died on the spot. The three miscreants killed were later identified as Jeetu Yadav, Pappu Yadav and Veeru Yadav.
Three country-made pistols and several used cartridges were recovered from the spot. According to the police, another associate of the miscreants named Monu Parihar is absconding.
Police personnel, including TI SK Singh, SI Suresh Tiwari, SI Daman Singh and Rajesh Gujjar were seriously injured in the encounter and were hospitalised.
According to the police, more than three dozen cases were registered against them. They were a terror in the area due to their criminal activities. One of them, Pappu Yadav was in jail sometime back and had been released recently on bail.