On June 27, Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force (STF) gunned down 27-year-old Muhammed Gufran, a wanted criminal in Kaushambi district. Gurfan was a resident of Azad Nagar in Pratapgarh district and was a notorious criminal carrying a reward of Rs 1.25 lakhs. The police were trying to trace him for quite some time.
Gurfan was wanted in over 13 criminal cases, of which seven cases were of murder. He was also accused of dacoity and loot. He usually operated in Pratapgarh and Sultanpur districts for years, where he committed various criminal activities. Superintendent of Police (SP), Kaushambi, Brijesh Srivastava, said that the shootout took place near the Samda sugar mill of Manjhanpur around 5 am today when a special task force team was conducting a raid.
When police confronted Gurfan, he opened fire on them. In retaliation, police also opened fire on him, and in that crossfire, he got shot and sustained injuries. Following that, the police took him to the hospital for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to the STF ADG Amitabh Yash, the STF team was led by Deputy SP Dharmesh Kumar Shahi. Shahi stated, “This morning Lucknow STF has conducted an encounter in the Samda region. A gangster was shot during the incident. He died during the treatment. He has been identified as Gufran and he is a notorious criminal. According to information received so far, there are 13 cases of murder and loot in Pratapgarh police station against him and a reward of Rs 1,25,000 was placed on him”.
Deputy SP Shahi added, “Police tried to stop Gufran near Samda but he fired at police and in retaliatory firing, he got injured and later succumbed to his injuries. One .32 bore pistol, 9mm carbine, and bike recovered. He was associated with many big criminals. Probe being done”.
The killing of Gufran comes in view of the UP Government’s crackdown against the mafia and gangsters in Uttar Pradesh. Recently on May 4, the dreaded gangster Anil Dujana was killed in an encounter in Meerut by UP STF. He used to operate from western UP, terrorising people in Noida, Ghaziabad and other areas in Delhi NCR. It is pertinent to note that there are 62 criminal cases registered against him, including 18 cases of murder.
Anil Dujana hailed from Dujana village, where he got his name located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. He was released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail after he secured bail last week. It was reported that he allegedly threatened a witness and another woman, related to the Jaichand Pradhan murder case, after being released from prison. Thereafter, the police registered two cases against him.
It was reported that a total of seven teams of the UP STF and Noida Police raided 20 locations to arrest Anil Dujana. The UP STF located the notorious gangster and his gang members hiding in Meerut and moved in to arrest him. However, when the UP STF attempted to arrest the gangster, a gunfight broke out between the police and the gang members, in which the UP STF killed the notorious gangster.
