DNA EXCLUSIVE: 2,500 dreaded criminals in UP police crosshairs

The Uttar Pradesh police has prepared a district-wise list of 2,500 hardcore criminals, who carry rewards on their heads, a move that also comes amid rising encounter numbers in the state.

The original number inherited from the previous Samajwadi Party government was actually 5,000, but half of these criminals were arrested or killed, government sources claimed.

The Yogi Adityanath government has also expanded the ambit of declaring rewards on criminals for more effective crime control.

"The new government has revised discretionary powers of police officials. Earlier, a police superintendent could declare a reward of only Rs 2,500. It has been hiked tenfold to Rs 25,000. The DGP can now put a reward of Rs 2 lakh on a criminal's head, against the earlier Rs 50,000," said a senior police official.

DGP (law and order) Anand Kumar said encounters were not a state policy, and the word, as it was being used, was wrong. "Actually, we are cracking down upon professional hardened criminals who are carrying rewards on their heads, who never feared the police. Now, when the police is raiding their and hideouts, they open fire and face retaliation. This is how they are either killed or injured," he said.

Since the Yogi government came to power 10 months ago, the police have conducted 1,142 encounters, killing 34 dreaded criminals. While 265 were injured, 2,744 history-sheeters have been arrested. Four police personnel were killed and 250 injured.

The police have also seized assets worth nearly Rs 150 crore. Numbers also indicate that Western UP continues to be the hotbed of crime in the state.