Bareilly highway firing: Two who opened fire injured in encounter, arrested

Police arrested two gunmen, including a history-sheeter corporator, after a public highway gunfight in Bareilly. Both were injured in the exchange of fire.

After an exchange of fire, police arrested two gunmen involved in the gunfighting that took place in full public view on a highway in Bareilly on June 22, senior officials in the department said on Sunday. While one of them is a history-sheeter corporator, the other is his aide.

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Bareilly circle officer (CO-III) Anita Chauhan said the two accused caught were Krishna Pal alias KP Yadav, a corporator from Bareilly with over 14 criminal cases against him, and his aide Subash Lodhi. She said Yadav was named as the main accused in one of the FIRs registered in connection with the incident on June 22 while the involvement of Lodhi surfaced later during the investigation.

Both were injured in the encounter.

The CO said the police had been searching for the two accused for the past one week. The accused, who were travelling in a car without its registration plate, were intercepted on Addapura Road under Izzat Nagar police station limits. The duo opened fire on the police team in a bid to escape and were shot in their legs in the retaliatory firing. She said the duo was taken into custody from the district hospital.

A video of the incident was widely shared on social media. It showed people running helter-skelter when two groups of Rajiv Rana, a realtor, and Aditya Upadhyaya, a marble trader, fired on each other on the Pilibhit highway over a land dispute.

So far, 26 people including Rana and Upadhyaya had been arrested in connection with the case. Also, the administration has demolished an ‘illegal’ hotel and the residence of Rana and a resort owned by Upadhyaya.