Police gun down 6 dacoits of Jagjivan gang

Etawah/Lucknow, May 13 (UNI) At least six dacoits of the dreaded Jagjivan Parihar gang were gunned down in an encounter on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border near Chambal ravines today.

Earlier, it was reported that eight dacoits were killed in the encounter -- a joint operation by the two state police forces.

State Director General of Police (DGP) Bua Singh said here the encounter took place in MP village of Johara-Ka-purwa in Bhind district around 1600 hrs.

Police sleuths from both UP and MP button holed the gang of about 30 people before the encounter.

Addressing a news conference at Lucknow, the DGP said the slain dacoits were identified as Prahlad Singh, Jaiveer, Ram Singh, Gonwar Singh, Jawala Singh and Ravindra Singh.

Another dacoit, Yogendra, was nabbed by cops.

Mr Singh said the number of casualty of dacoits might go up as combing operation was underway.

UP police's Head-Constable Rajendra was wounded in cross-firing.

The encounter was still on and police were hunting for Jagjivan.

At least seven people, including a girl, were rescued from the clutches of the gang.

Police and PAC sleuths from four UP districts alongwith MP Police were part of the operation launched against Jagjivan gang.

Jagjivan carries a bounty of Rs one lakh on his head and there were at least 40 cases of murder and abduction pending against him and his gang in UP.

It is the third achievement of the UP government in recent times to eliminate dacoits in the Etawah-Jalaun belt after gunning down two notorious bandits -- Nirbhay Gujjar and Kalua.

Nirbhay was shot dead in November last year at Auriyya, while Kalua was killed in an encounter with Bareilly police in January.

UNI MB VS VD PC1952