Agencies

Lucknow, Jun 18: Dreaded dacoit Ghanshyam Kewat alias Nanhu, who was involved in a gunbattle with police officers in Uttar Pradesh's Chitrakoot district, was killed 
a short while ago.

There were reports earlier that the dacoit had managed to give cops the slip.

The encounter started over 48 hours ago and at least one policeman was killed on Thursday.

On Wednesday three policemen were killed and six others injured in a fierce encounter with the dacoit and his gang.

"The encounter which started yesterday morning at Jamauli village is still on till late this evening," Director General of Police Vikram Singh had said on Wednesday, adding that additional forces had been sent to the spot, around 120 km from Allahabad.

A team of security personnel surrounded Kewat, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head, and his gang but faced stiff resistance.

"Company commander PAC Beni Madhav Singh and constables Shamim and Iqbal were killed in the encounter while IG, PAC VK Gupta, DIG Chitrakoot SK Singh and four others — Navendra Singh and Akram of STF, Dileep Kumar Tiwari and Rajendra Singh — were injured," the officer said on Wednesday.

Both Gupta and Singh received bullet injuries on their lower abdomen and were admitted to SGPGI after being air lifted to Lucknow.

When asked why the police was taking so much time in winding up the operation, Singh said: "Such encounters cannot be tailor made. We have all type of weapons that can be used in such situations. But we are conducting the operation in such a way that no harm could be made to villagers, their property and livestock."

"They are using .303 rifles, double and single barrel of .312 bore and hand grenades," Singh had said.

When asked about the gang, the DGP said it was "residual gang" of dacoit Baccha Kewat, who was killed earlier by the police. He said that teams of Special Task Force (STF), Special Operation Group (SOG), PAC and force and officers of nearby districts like Allahabad, Banda and Kaushambi have surrounded the area.