Alleged Bangladesh criminal killed in Lucknow encounter

A Bangladesh national, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 and suspected to be the kingpin of a gang that robbed houses along railway tracks in Uttar Pradesh and other states, was killed in an encounter with the police in the Gomtinagar area of Lucknow, police officials said on Monday.

Lucknow deputy commissioner of police (east) Sanjiv Suman said Hamza alias Abul of Khulna district of Bangladesh died after a police encounter near Dayal crossing under Gomtinagar police station limits in the early hours of Monday. Abul and members of his gang opened fire at the police team that intercepted them near the railway lines near the crossing, the officer said, adding that the other gang members managed to flee.

Hamza was injured in the encounter and taken to the civil hospital where doctors declared him "brought dead". Police arrested three other alleged members of the gang — Sheikh Rubel, 26, Alam, 27, and Rabiul, 23 —last week for their involvement in several incidents of robbery and loot at houses along the railway lines in Lucknow and other cities.

The arrested men had told the police during interrogation that they were members of a gang that entered West Bengal in India from Bangladesh, the police said.

They first used to conduct a recce along railway tracks and then committed the crimes, the police added.

Once a house was marked, they reached the spot via train, committed loot and fled by jumping onto passing trains.

"The gang used the networks of trains and rail tracks to conduct recce, reach the marked location and then escape from the spot after committing the crime," said the officer.

After robbery, the accused used to share the loot and travel back to West Bengal from where they smuggled the looted items to their families in Bangladesh.

In case the looted amount ran into several lakh rupees, the accused returned to Bangladesh and lay low for some time before coming back to India to commit another loot, according to the police.