COPS NAB THREE CRIMINALS AFTER SHOOTOUT, ONE INJURED

PRAYAGRAJ: The police nabbed three criminals after a brief shootout in the wee hours of Saturday. The incident happened near the new bulk vegetable market in the trans-Yamuna Meja area of the district, around 35 km from Sangam city. One of the criminals was injured in the exchange of fire, police said.

Looted jewellery, two country-made weapons, a number of live bullets, a car and a moped were recovered from the arrested criminals, they added.

Police said that three other criminals who were also present on the scene managed to escape.

SP (crime) Ashutosh Mishra said that sleuths of the crime branch and Meja police went on alert after receiving a tip-off regarding some criminals being active in the area.

After spotting the criminals, the policemen ordered them to stop.

However, they tried to escape in a car and a moped from the site after firing at the police. In retaliatory firing by the police, one criminal who was trying to escape on a moped sustained a gunshot injury to his leg and fell.

The other two trying to escape in a car were also nabbed, he added.

The police then sent the injured criminal to SRN Hospital, while the other two were taken to the Meja police station for questioning. They have been identified as Jai Prakash Sharma and Dilip Upadhyay of village Tudihar of Meja area and Neeraj Mishra of Karchana, he said.

Three other criminals who were also present on the scene managed to escape. Two of them have been identified as Anshu Tiwari of Bakchunda, Meja, and Ramesh Chandra Pasi of Chilbila, Manda, while the third remains unknown. Efforts are on to nab them, police added.

VARANASI: Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ajay Kumar Singh, who came to Varanasi as district observer on poll duty on Thursday for the counting of votes for the Legislative Council election, passed away at a private hospital here on Saturday morning. He was admitted to the hospital on Friday morning after he suffered a heart attack.

Varanasi district magistrate Kaushalraj Sharma confirmed the officer’s death.

Singh received treatment under the supervision of cardiologists and neurologists of the private Shubham Hospital, as well as Sir Sunder Lal Hospital of