Two criminals held in separate encounters with police in Ballia

Varanasi: Ballia police, on intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, arrested two criminals, Rohit Chandra Pandey and Mukesh Kumar Singh, in two separate encounters in which the duo suffered bullet injuries. In a bid to strike terror, Ravi and Mukesh had earlier opened fire at traders.Ballia SP Omvir Singh said on Wednesday that on May 19 evening, Shivji Gupta filed a complaint alleging Rohit attempted to kill him, after which police teams were engaged to arrest him. On Tuesday, in a post-midnight operation, a team of Kotwali police tried to intercept Rohit near Dadari Mela site when he opened fire. When police fired back in self-defence, Rohit sustained a bullet injury on leg and was caught, while an illegal firearm, cartridges and a motorcycle were seized from him. Police rushed him to the hospital while his two accomplices, Ashutosh Yadav and Ashu Yadav, managed to escape.Officials said during investigation of the case, a woman accused, Soni, was also arrested. Soni was in a relationship with Rohit, and the latter attacked Shivji Gupta with intention to kill on being incited by her.The SP added that on May 21, Arun Gupta of Kasim Bazar lodged FIR alleging he was attacked by some miscreants with the intention of killing. During investigation, Kotwali police identified the assailants as Mukesh Kumar Singh alias Anshu Singh alias Rudra Singh of Piarauta in Revati area and Rohit Verma alias Saral of Fefna. On getting inputs regarding their movement on Wednesday, police cordoned off Maldepur-Green Field road.Meanwhile, Mukesh passed by on a motorcycle and when police signalled him to stop, he opened fire and tried to escape and police retaliated and arrested him.Though his accomplice managed to escape, another associate, Akhilesh Kumar Gupta alias Pappu of Kasim Bazar, was arrested on Wednesday. Investigation revealed that Akhilesh's son, Abhishek Gupta and Amit Gupta had hired Mukesh and Rohit Verma alias Saral to kill Arun Kumar Gupta, over a property dispute, promising them a car and a gold chain each after the crime.