Haryana liquor don arrested for murder

LUCKNOW: Nearly 15 months after the incident, the UP Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested notorious Haryana based liquor smuggler Rakesh alias Kalu for his role in the sensational murder of Lucknow based liquor smuggler Vinod Singh (45) in Sarojininagar.

Kalu carried a reward of ₹25,000 on his head by UP police and was on the radar of three states, including UP, Haryana as well as Punjab.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) of STF Abhishek Singh said Singh’s murder was the fallout of fight between him and Kalu over supremacy in liquor smuggling trade in the state.

He said Kalu got Singh murdered through two contract killers on July 22, 2017, as the latter had tipped off about his multiple liquor consignments to the police and got them seized causing loss of several lakh.

The SSP said Kalu was on the run since his name surfaced in the murder of Singh after the

arrest of the two contract killers Azam Malik of Shamli and Heera Yadav of Varanasi on July 28, 2017.

He said a STF team led by deputy SP Alok Singh was tracking Kalu’s location for past many months and finally zeroed on him on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday when he visited Lucknow in connection with his liquor smuggling trade.

He said Kalu was intercepted and arrested near Nadarganj turn in Sarojininagar when he was waiting for some other people for the liquor deal.