Two jailed gangsters, their shooter named as key accused
LUCKNOW: Jailed gangster Dhruv Singh alias Kuntoo Singh, his close aide Akhand Pratap Singh, who is also in jail in a separate case, and his sharp shooter Kanhaiya Vishwkarma alias Girdhari Sharma alias Doctor, along with three unidentified people, have been named in an FIR registered in connection with the Wednesday night shootout at Lucknow’s Kathauta crossing in Vibhuti Khand police station area, said senior police officials.
In the shootout, Ajit Singh, the alleged henchman of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was shot dead while his associate Mohar Singh and a delivery boy were injured when three unidentified motorcycleborne assailants opened indiscriminate fire on them.
The deceased, who was a history-sheeter with 19 criminal cases, was the husband of a former block pramukh of Gahona in Mau district.
A senior police official said Girdhari Sharma, who has over 20 criminal cases against him, carries ₹1 lakh reward on his head from Varanasi.
He said Sharma is already wanted in the murder of a 32-year-old contractor Nitesh Singh alias Bablu, who was shot dead in full public view on Sadar Tehsil premises under the Cantonment police station area of Varanasi, on September 30, 2019.
He said Ajit Singh’s associate Mohar Singh has claimed to identify Girdhari among the assailants.
The official said Kuntoo Singh, who is the prime accused in the former MLA Sarvesh Singh alias Sippu Singh in Azamgarh around seven years ago, has over 68 criminal cases registered against him between 1992 and 2020.
He said Kuntoo’s wife is former block pramukh of Azmatnagar, Azamgarh.
He said Akhand also has multiple cases registered against him and he himself is former block pramukh from Tarwa, Azamgarh. He said Akhand has contested assembly election from Atraulia constituency of Azamgarh as Bahujan Samaj Party candidate in 2017.
Lucknow Commissioner of Police (CP), DK Thakur said the FIR was lodged on the complaint of Mohar Singh, who is the survivor in the shootout and eyewitness of the incident. He said the complainant mentioned in the FIR that Kuntoo and Akhand with help of Girdhari and his three associates got the crime executed.
He said the complainant had stated that Ajit Singh was key witness in the murder of former MLA Sippu Singh and he was getting threats from Kuntoo and Akhand to turn hostile for the past two years. He said Ajit was summoned for his witness appearance in an Azamgarh court next week before which he was murdered. He said the FIR is registered under Indian Penal Code (IPS) sections 302 for murder, 307 for attempt to murder, 120-B for criminal conspiracy and section 34 of Arms Act in the matter.
The post mortem report of Ajit Singh confirmed severe gunfight led to his death. There were as many as 48 wounds in the body of Singh, said doctors who performed the post mortem. Doctors found four bullets inside Singh’s body and claimed that he was hit by at least 22 bullets.