Seven nabbed after encounter with police
Firearms, tools used in the murder, looted cash recovered from the possession of the accused
PRAYAGRAJ : The Prayagraj police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the two incidents of brutal multiple murders in the district with the arrest of seven members of an inter-state vagabond criminal gang after an encounter.
In the two incidents, bodies were found at Khevrajpur village of Tharwai (April 23, 2022) and Gohri Village in Phaphamau area (November 25, 2021) of the trans-Ganga regions of the district. The murders were committed by the arrested accused when they were looting the households. Some of the accused gangraped the women in the two incidents, police officials said.
Three members of the gang received bullet injuries in the encounter with the police in the wee hours on Wednesday. Firearms, tools used in the murder, looted cash, etc were recovered from their possession.
The UP government and ADG zone declared a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the police team while IG Range declared a reward of Rs 50,000 and SSP declared a separate award of Rs 25,000.
ADG, zone, Prem Prakash, briefed mediapersons saying seven police teams had been constituted to work out the murders early. Investigations indicated similarity between the incidents of multiple murders. Police received clues which suggested that murders were committed by members of notorious Kharwar gang whose other members were arrested earlier for similar murders in the transGanga region.
Acting on a tip off, police teams cornered gang members at an orchard near Badhanpur village in Tharwai at around 3 am.
Two gang members opened fire on the police team when asked to surrender and tried to escape. In retaliatory firing, three gang members received injuries while two others were nabbed after a chase. The injured gang members were identified as Nawal Kumar Kharwar of Aurangabad in Bihar who carried a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head, Rohit Kharwar who also carried a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head, and PP Kharwar of Kaimur in Bihar. The other two were identified as Monu Kumar of Phaphamau and Akash Kharwar of Kaimur.
On their confession, police teams arrested Bhim Kumar Gautam and his wife Sanngeeta who allegedly helped and sheltered the gang members.
A country-made firearm, 5 live bullets, 2 iron rods, an axe, a hammer, a screwdriver and Rs 42,700 in cash were recovered from their possession.