Bihar criminal Lallan Singh killed in UP police encounter

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MEERUT: A criminal from Bihar, Lallan Singh was allegedly shot dead in a fierce gunbattle after he was cornered by UP Special Task Force team on a secluded stretch of the Sarsawa-Nakur Road in Saharanpur district in the early hours of Monday. Hailing from Anandgolwa village in Samastipur district, Bihar, Singh, 35, was wanted in 13 cases across Bihar and UP, including at least seven murders, three of which were of serving police officers. He evaded justice since 2022, when he fled judicial custody along with his two brothers. According to police, the encounter took place around 3:30 am Monday when an STF team spotted two bike-borne men near the Sarsawa flyover. ADG (law and order), Amitabh Yash, said, “When signalled to stop, the duo accelerated and tried to flee down a parallel unmetalled road. Their motorcycle lost control on the uneven stretch, but rather than surrendering, Lallan opened fire, targeting the STF personnel with intent to kill. Two bullets struck the bulletproof jackets of ASP Lal Pratap Singh and inspector Aditya Kumar Singh, who narrowly escaped serious injury. Undeterred, Lallan then pulled out a semi-automatic weapon and resumed firing.” The STF team responded. Lallan was hit and collapsed. His associate seized the darkness to flee and remains at large. Lallan was rushed to CHC Sarsawa and subsequently referred to the district hospital, where he was declared dead. Recovered from the scene were a sten gun with magazine, a pistol with magazine, a bag, 14 live cartridges across calibres and a motorcycle of the same model used in several of his prior crimes. Between 2016 and 2017, he and his gang murdered four police personnel in Bihar, shooting ASI Bhuvneshwar Singh in Nalanda, ASI Suresh Thakur in Patna’s Badh area, ASI RR Chaudhary in Patna’s Fathua, and three people, including security guards, during a triple murder in a Patna bank robbery that netted the gang around Rs 60 lakh. In a cash van ambush in Nalanda in Feb 2017, two more were killed and Rs 20 lakh was looted. His trail continued into UP. In Nov 2022, he shot a sub-inspector in Varanasi’s Rohania area, stealing his service pistol, and days earlier shot and robbed a man of his bike in Chandauli. A reward of Rs 1 lakh was declared by the Varanasi police commissioner and Rs 25,000 by the Chandauli SP for his capture. His brothers, Manish Singh and Rajneesh Singh, were killed in a police encounter four years ago, ironically, a firefight Lallan also escaped from, with the gang’s stolen pistol recovered from the accused that night.