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Notorious criminal carrying ₹1-lakh reward gunned down by police in Gonda
Another senior police officer said that the slain accused was identified as Sonu Pasi alias Bhure, 45, who was a resident of Karnailganj area in Gonda. He said that the accused had a notorious crime record, and the first case was lodged against him in 2002.
As part of crackdown against notorious criminals, another offender carrying a cash reward of ₹1 lakh was gunned down in an encounter in Gonda district on Tuesday morning, Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Prashant Kumar said here in Lucknow.
Kumar said the slain accused had a criminal history spanning over 23 years, with as many as 53 cases of loot, robbery, theft, extortion and attempt to murder registered against him in Gonda and adjoining districts.
As per officials, 230 criminals have been gunned down in separate encounters in different districts of U.P. and other states since the formation of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state in March, 2017.
A total of 14 criminals have been eliminated in the first five months of this year itself (from January 1 to May 20), they said.
Another senior police officer said that the slain accused was identified as Sonu Pasi alias Bhure, 45, who was a resident of Karnailganj area in Gonda. He said that the accused had a notorious crime record, and the first case was lodged against him in 2002.
“His involvement surfaced recently in a case in which a gang of thieves stormed the house of one Devideen of Pure Tilak Dhanni Purwa within Gonda’s Umari Begum Ganj police station limits on the intervening night of April 24 and 25, 2025, and shot at one person who woke he due to commotion ,” he said. “Devideen later lodged an FIR under relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),” he added.
The senior officer said three members of Bhure’s gang -- Brijesh alias Chhotu Pasi, Pallu Pasi and Nan Munna Lodh -- were arrested in an encounter on the intervening night of May 8 and 9 earlier this month, while Bhure had managed to escape. Additional director general (ADG), Gorakhpur zone, KSP Kumar had increased the reward on Bhure after this incident.
“Bhure was gunned down in retaliatory firing by the police team near Saloni Mohammadpur turn within Umari Begum Ganj police station limits on Tuesday morning. Police have recovered a pistol, and a country-made firearm from his possession,” the senior officer said.
