A hardcore criminal wanted in murder of a woman, who was prime witness to her son’s murder also executed by him, was gunned down during an encounter with the police in Meerut on Saturday night.
The miscreant identified as Sujeet Singh of Saroorpur police station of the district was bearing a cash prize of Rs 50,000 in his name.
According to police, Sujeet was named in murder of a youth identified as Chetan of Saroorpur locality in Meerut last month. Following this a case of murder and rioting while armed with deadly weapon was registered against Sujeet and his aides.
After the incident, Chetan’s mother Savitri started vigorous pursuing of the case against Sujeet which irked him to such an extent that he killed Savitri’s son in law Bablu of Sardhna locality in Meerut on February 12. It was alleged that Sujeet killed Bablu to exert pressure on Savitri not to pursue the case in the court.
Savitri, however, did not give in to the pressure and she continued pursuing the case while deflecting Sujeet’s pressure tactic. On March, 3, Sujeet along with his aides reached Savitri’s field where she was cutting grass for fodder and shot her dead before fleeing the scene.
Police said Sujeet was named in four cases of heinous crime, two cases of murder attempt and a case of molestation.
The police said Sujeet was constantly exerting pressure on the witnesses to the crime cases against him and had threatened them of murdering them.
On Saturday night, an informer tipped off about Sujeet’s movement on Karnawal road in the locality following which the police team laid a trap.
Sujeet and his aide were asked to surrender but they chose to open fire on police. In the exchange of firing, Sujeet suffered injuries while his aide managed to escape.
Police rushed Sujeet to hospital where he was declared brought dead.
The cops recovered a pistol, three used bullets, four live cartridges and a motorcycle sans registration number.