Varanasi, Mar 22 (IANS): Dreaded gangster Manish Singh a.k.a. Sonu, has been killed in an encounter by the Varanasi unit of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF).

Sonu, who had 32 criminal cases pending against him and carried a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head, was wanted by Varanasi, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Jaunpur, Sitapur, and Shahjahanpur district police.

The encounter took place on Monday after an STF team tried to intercept him near Bankata in Lohta police circle of Varanasi following a specific tipoff regarding his movement.

He was spotted riding a motorcycle with his associate.

"When the police asked him to surrender, he opened fire at the. In the retaliatory firing that followed, Manish suffered bullet wounds while his associate managed to escape," Additional Director General (ADG), STF, Amitabh Yash said.

"Manish was rushed to hospital where the doctors pronounced him 'dead upon arrival'. We are on the lookout for his associate," he said.

The ADG said that Manish was wanted in the murder of a general manager of a company of Mirzapur and N.D. Tiwari, a well-known journalist of Varanasi.

The STF has recovered a carbine and several live cartridges from Manish's possession.

The STF was zeroing in on Manish ever since his close associates Rohit Singh Sunny, Rohit Gupta Kittu and Deepak Verma had been eliminated or put behind bars by STF in the recent months.