A reward-carrying, habitual offender, was shot dead in an encounter with the Firozabad police on Friday.
Identified as Raju Khan, the accused was carrying a reward of ₹50,000 and was named in cases of loot and murder. He used to target aged couples in villages, sleeping outside their houses.
Saurabh Dixit, senior superintendent of police (SSP), said that five teams were constituted after a pattern was witnessed in crimes of loot and murder wherein aged couples sleeping outside their houses in Firozabad were being targeted.
“After visualising and analysing about 200 CCTV footages, police zeroed in on Raju Khan, a resident of Shahganj area in Agra, who used to buy a bus ticket from Agra to travel to Firozabad and used to target aged couples while asleep to loot jewellery and cash in the house,” the SSP said.
“One such couple, Munnal Lal Yadav and his wife, Mithlesh, in Shikohabad village, were targeted on the night of March 4 and were badly injured in the attack. The couple succumbed to injuries and died. A case was registered at Shikohabad police station. Again on June 15, a similar attack took place in Malikhanpur village of Firozabad, where an aged widow, Surajmukhi, was targeted and a case was registered,” he said.
“Raju Khan was traced again on Friday near Puratan Road in Firozabad and was intercepted but fired at the police team, which fired back in defence, leaving the accused injured, who was rushed to district hospital but died during treatment.
Caption :::: File photo of Raju Khan, shot dead by the police in Firozabad on Friday.