Three police officials were killed and an IG of the PAC of the Uttar Pradesh Police and a DIG were seriously injured in a fierce gunfight with dreaded dacoit Ghanshyam Kewat’s gang on Wednesday.
The gunfight, continuing for 40 hours when reports last came in, took place in a village in Chitrakoot district, 200 km south of Lucknow.
The IG, VK Gupta (51) and DIG (Chitrakoot Range), SK Singh (58) were brought to Lucknow by helicopter and are now in hospital.
Policemen involved in the operation were highly critical of their senior officers.
“There is no strategy in place. There is no one to tell how to exert pressure (on the dacoits). The dacoit is ensconced at a point from where he has visibility in all four directions. He fires at anyone getting close to the house he’s holed up in. And he isn’t missing much,” said jawan Gopal Singh from Chitrakoot.
UP’s director general of police (DGP) Vikram Singh (58) however denied that the police force was ill-prepared for the operation.
"The dacoits had an unfair advantage as they had taken shelter inside a house and had weapons like 9-inch mortars and grenade firing weapons. We have to act very cautiously since we cannot risk the lives of villagers in the vicinity."
{{/usCountry}}"The dacoits had an unfair advantage as they had taken shelter inside a house and had weapons like 9-inch mortars and grenade firing weapons. We have to act very cautiously since we cannot risk the lives of villagers in the vicinity."
{{/usCountry}}The gunfight has been on in a village adjoining dacoit Kewat’s native village of Sarwal, where he was camping with his gang when the police team surrounded them on Tuesday afternoon.
Kewat’s is the only big gang surviving in the Chambal ravines and Bundelkhand badlands. Other gangs have been eliminated over the past few years.