A dreaded shooter related to gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari and in addition an accused in BJP chief Krishnanand Rai’s 2005 homicide was gunned down by Uttar Pradesh particular activity drive on the outskirts of Lucknow on Sunday morning, police officers stated.
Rakesh Pandey alias Hanuman Pandey carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, officers added.
They stated Pandey was concerned in a number of murders and shoot-outs, carried out allegedly by Mukhtar Ansari’s gang prior to now 27 years. Ansari was accused of hatching a conspiracy to kill Rai– an MLA from Mohammadabad meeting constituency in Ghazipur– whereas in jail, however was acquitted throughout trial in a decrease courtroom.
Mukhtar Ansari and one other gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi are additionally accused in Rai’s homicide case.
Bajrangi was shot useless by one other gangster Sunil Rathi inside Baghpat jail on July 9, 2018.
STF inspector common (IG) of police Amitabh Yash stated a staff was repeatedly attempting to trace Pandey for the previous many months.
“Pandey was gunned down in retaliatory firing whereas the staff was attempting to arrest him when he got here to fulfill considered one of his accomplices on Kanpur Highway, beneath Sarojini Nagar police station limits,” Yash stated.
He stated Pandey was in a four-wheeler with 4 different individuals however the others managed to flee through the encounter.
One other STF official stated Pandey had at the least 10 felony instances registered towards him between 1993 and 2012. He added that no felony case was lodged towards him after 2012, nonetheless, his involvement surfaced in two instances, together with fraudulent procurement of firearms licence in his spouse Saroj Lata Pandey’s identify in Mau in 2004 and buy of two pistols from a gangster Neeraj Singh in Might 2020.
The official stated a case of procuring firearms licence was lodged towards his spouse and the then station officer of Kopaganj police station Mritunjay Mishra (for negligence) on the Kopaganj police station of Mau on July eight this yr.
He added that the STF was, nonetheless, tracing him since Might 28 this yr when the arrest of two criminals — Neeraj Singh and Shubham Mishra — revealed that Pandey was amassing firearms and ammunition and was planning some crime.