Kanpur encounter: Another botched operation in UP Police's hall of shame

While there is no dearth of botched-up encounters in the state, the one at Bikru village will go down as an operation with maximum casualty on the men in khaki in recent memory.
On July 2 last year, a west UP Gangster Rohit Saandu had escaped the clutches of an escort team while in transit from Muzaffarnagar court to Mirzapur prison, where he was lodged. His associates, who had attacked the escort team at an eatery in Muzaffarnagar, also shot dead sub-inspector Durg Vijay Singh.
In January 2018, a UP police constable Ankit Kumar (27) was shot in the head and killed in an encounter between police and Sabir Ahmed, member of dreaded Mukeem Kala gang in Shamli district.
In 2004, suspected naxalites had ambushed a truck carrying police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) jawans on camping duty and blew up a culvert in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh.
In the incident, 17 policemen including 13 PAC jawans were killed. Former UP DGP Brijlal recalls a 1981 encounter where nine policemen,were killed when a combing was ambushed by dreaded dacoit Chaviram Yadav and his gang which opened indiscriminate fire at the police party.
The Chaviram gang divided in three groups and ambushed the police team led by inspector Rajpal. Nine policemen including PAC jawans were killed. Light machine, SLR and GF rifles were looted from the raiding police team, Brajlal added.
In 2007, a notorious dacoit Thokia had ambushed a Special Task Force (STF) team near Bhogolan village in Banda district killing five STF men and a police informer.