Two arrested after Baghpat ‘encounter’

Police said the two men — 31-year-old Sonu Thakur and 32-year Manoj Malkhan — were injured in their legs in the incident.

Two wanted men were arrested after an alleged encounter with the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police units in UP’s Baghpat on Friday night.

The DCP said that the crime branch and the UP’s STF had laid a trap in Baghpat at 10.20 pm on Friday after receiving a tip-off that two suspects would visit Baghpat. (HTPhotos)

Police said the two men — 31-year-old Sonu Thakur and 32-year Manoj Malkhan — were injured in their legs in the incident.

Thakur carried a reward of ₹50,000 each from the Delhi Police and the UP Police. He was allegedly wanted in 20 cases of murder, robbery and snatchings, many of them registered in the national capital.

“On February 27, Thakur and his associates had shot dead an oil trader near his home in Ghaziabad for resisting a robbery bid of ₹5.2 lakh cash,” said Ram Gopal Naik, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch), adding that Malkhan was wanted in 14 cases of attempt to murder, robbery and snatching in Delhi.

The DCP said that the crime branch and the UP’s STF had laid a trap in Baghpat at 10.20 pm on Friday after receiving a tip-off that two suspects would visit Baghpat.

The police said they retaliated by firing at the suspects in which both was hit in their legs. “A sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector of the (Delhi Police) crime branch and two head constables of the (Uttar Pradesh) STF were hit in their chests, but they were saved because of their bullet-proof vests,” said the DCP.

The duo was apprehended and rushed to a nearby hospital in Baghpat before being referred to Meerut, said the DCP, adding that their condition is expected to be stable.