Dadua injured in encounter?

DREADED DACOIT Shivkumar Kurmi alias Dadua, nicknamed ?Veerappan of North?, was reportedly injured on Tuesday in an encounter with police in Bahelpurwa area of Chitrakoot-Karbi in UP.

DREADED DACOIT Shivkumar Kurmi alias Dadua, nicknamed ‘Veerappan of North’, was reportedly injured on Tuesday in an encounter with police in Bahelpurwa area of Chitrakoot-Karbi in UP.

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Dadua’s aide Budhvilas Patel was killed in the encounter at Sitalpur. Dadua was reportedly hit by a bullet on his foot. His gang members, while fleeing, were heard saying, ‘Chalo bhaag ke, Bhaiyya ko goli lag gain hai’ (Let’s escape, Bhaiyya has been hit by bullet). Dadua is called Bhaiyya by the dacoits, police said.

During the encounter the Satna police cordoned off the MP-UP border. Out of more than 250 crimes the brigand has committed, around 25 are registered in MP. Dadua (59) turned bandit in 1975 and carries a reward of Rs 2.25 lakh on his head— Rs 2 lakh in UP and Rs 25,000 in MP.

Though Dadua gang and other groups associated with it are active in the erstwhile Vindhya Pradesh, the brigand hasn’t committed a crime in MP since 1989, the Satna police said. The MP and UP police have spent over Rs 40 crore to nab the brigand.

The UP police have formed a special team ‘Ghathak’ comprising five SIs and a dozen constables to nab Dadua. Karbi SP Shachi Ghildyal said that though villagers near the encounter site claimed that Dadua and another gang member Angad were injured, police were yet to confirm it.

While the police were on a combing operation, they were tipped off by a relative about Dadua. When the police closed in on Dadua and his 18 men, the gang retaliated. In the encounter nearly 200 rounds were fired. Police have recovered a US-made rifle Eddystone of 1917 make and 82 live cartridges from Budhvilas.