Uttar Pradesh: Budaun Police Nabs Murder Suspects After Intense Encounter (image-twitter/budaunpolice)
On the night of Wednesday, Gaurav Maheshwari, accused of robbery and murder of an e-rickshaw driver, was caught along with his nephew by the police after an encounter in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh.
During the encounter, near Muzaria police station, a sub-inspector and a criminal were injured due to firing from both sides. Both of the accused have been arrested. The injured Maheshwari and Inspector Vijay Dharma are undergoing treatment at CHC Sahaswan.
Absconding in the e-rickshaw murder case, Maheshwari was caught during a vehicle checking procedure around 9 p.m. A tip-off led the police authorities to an intersection on Bilsi Marg, where both accused were carrying stolen batteries. As per reports, the two accused started firing on the police, leading to injuries on both sides. However, their condition is reported to be stable.
A video clip from the active encounter shows an injured suspect lying next to a country-made pistol.
The recent Budaun case is one of the many in the growing pile of rampant crime and violence in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The state boasts alarming rates of illegal arms and ammunition proliferating on its streets.
Last year, in a report filed by senior advocate S Nagamuthu with the Supreme Court, the number of registered crimes involving seizures of unlicensed weapons was revealed to have risen from 13,395 in 2013 to 25,600 in 2022, stated an article in Hindustan Times. Based on the statistics from the National Crime Record Bureau, Uttar Pradesh is the biggest illegal arms mine in the country, with the business now transformed into an entire industry.
At the same time, the word ‘encounter’ has become a regular word in the state’s dictionary. According to a report from The Wire, since the reign of CM Yogi Adityanath in 2017, police authorities have shot over 190 people dead in instances of alleged encounters. Between March 2017 and September 2023, the UP police have shot and injured around 5,591 people in such incidents. The CM had also revealed that 16 police personnel had been killed and 1,478 injured in these operations since March 2017.
The Adityanath-led government has underscored its priority to strengthen law and order in its zero-tolerance policy against criminals and the mafia. With the easy access to cheap county-made weapons and police officials using encounters as their preferred tactic, the escalating violence in the state is a concerning matter.
