Lucknow, Jun 29 (IANS): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the spurt in the rate of crimes in the state. Hours later the state police responded to her tweet.

Listing their successes in curbing organised crime, the state police claimed to have arrested close over 9,000 criminals in two years as they listed a set of data about how effective their crime fighting machinery have been in fighting crime.

"UP Police has taken strict action against serious offenders. In two years, 9,225 criminals have been arrested and 81 have been killed. Illegal assets of more than 200 crore people have been seized under the National Security Act and there has been an unprecedented decline in dacoity, murder, loot and kidnappings," the state police tweeted.

"Because of UP Police's effective working, there has been a 20 to 35 per cent decline in crimes. All sensational crimes have been solved in 48 hours," the police added.

Priyanka Gandhi earlier on Saturday, had slammed the UP government over the spike in criminal activities in the state.

"In Uttar Pradesh, criminals are roaming free and doing whatever they want. Criminal incidents are taking place one after the other. However, the BJP government has turned deaf. Has the Uttar Pradesh government surrendered before criminals?" she tweeted in Hindi alongside a collage of news reports.