Lucknow Encounter: A man with criminal background accused of attempting to rape a woman before killing her in Lucknow was gunned down in an encounter with police on Friday, March 21. Ajay and his brother Dinesh were behind the sensational murder and alleged rape bid on the 32-year-old woman, whose body was found dumped in a mango orchard in Malihabad on Wednesday. The Lucknow Police on Friday night gunned down the main accused, Ajay with a Rs 1 lakh bounty and arrested his brother Dinesh of Dubagga, earlier in the day.
"The woman had arrived in Lucknow from Varanasi around 1.30 am on March 18. She then called her brother from Alambagh to inform him that she would reach his home in the Chinhat area. She was in a three-wheeler with both the accused. However she didn't reach home and when her brother tried, her phone was switched off," said DCP (Lucknow West) Vishwajit Shrivastava, as quoted by PTI.
He then alerted UP 112 and eventually a probe was launched.
The officer said the woman was unaware about the routes in Lucknow and the duo took her towards Malihabad in the wrong direction where they tried to force themselves on her in a mango orchard.
When she resisted, the duo strangled her to death and left her body in the orchard before fleeing, Shrivastava said. Dinesh, who lives in the Dubagga area, was held in the morning with the help of electronic surveillance as multiple police teams were on the case and in the evening Ajay was also traced in Mahmood Nagar.
"He tried to escape and opened fire on the police team, promoting a retaliation in which he suffered injuries and was held. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead by doctors," the DCP told reporters.
He said Lucknow Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his arrest. Further legal proceedings in the case are underway.
(With Agency Inputs)