Sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) claimed to have achieved a big success when they managed to gun down a notorious criminal, wanted in connection with several cases of murder, extortion and abduction. The encounter took place in lakhimpur Kheri on Indo-Nepal border, in the wee hours of Wednesday. One of the accomplice, however, managed to escape from the spot. A case has been registered in this regard by the police and the body was sent for post-mortem examination.
Reports said that dreaded criminal Bagga Singh, who carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh over his arrest, was traced by the STF team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Vishal Vikram Singh near Bairiya hamlet of Nighasan in lakhimpur Kheri following a tip off. later the encounter took place in the wee hours of Wednesday when Bagga Singh and an accomplice were spotted going on a bike along the canal road near the Dulhi siphon. Both the parties exchanged over three dozen rounds of fire before the STF team moved forward and found Bagga Singh, lying in critical state while his aide managed to escape through the dense sugarcane fields. A pistol, some ammunition and the bike were recovered
from the encounter spot. Bagga Singh was rushed to community health centre but was declared brought dead. later the STF team also claimed to have carried out combing operation in search of the absconding accomplice but their efforts went in vein.
STF claimed that Bagga Singh had been operating in areas such as Nighasan,
Dhaurahra, lakhimpur, Tikonia and other police station areas since 2009. He was accused of carrying out killings, loot, extortion and abductions. The Kheri police had nabbed him in 2013, but he escaped from police custody on his way to court. He had allegedly shot dead a police constable while fleeing. Since then, Bagga Singh had been evading arrest. The Kheri police had killed his close aide Sachin Gupta in an encounter in 2015.