One dacoit vs hundreds of cops

Hundreds of policemen in Chitrakoot, UP, engaged in a 52-hour operation for three days to kill dacoit, Nanhu
Hardnews Bureau

A dacoit, Ghanshyam Kewat alias Nanhu, was killed by the UP police Thursday afternoon at Jamuali village in Chitrakoot, about 120 km from Allahabad. He was engaged in a fierce gun battle with hundreds of policemen for three days. At least four police personnel were killed and six others were injured in the 52-hour operation that began on Tuesday morning. Nanhu had a reward of Rs 50,000 on him and was one of the most sought-out criminals.

Earlier in the day, he had given the police a slip and tried to flee towards the jungle by jumping from the house, where he was hiding. Nanhu offered stiff resistance to the police and engaged them for three days. He operated in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where he was wanted for over two dozen murders, abductions and several other crimes.

Television visuals showed how more than 400 policeman found it extremely difficult to contain Nanhu. Similar to 26/ 11 attacks, some policemen were seen having difficulty in loading their obsolete .303 rifles. Policemen on the scene accepted that they lacked sophisticated equipment to flush out just one dacoit.

Nanhu was wanted in dozens of cases ranging from dacoity, kidnapping and murder, learnt Hardnews. He was a member of the 'residual gang' of Shekhar Kewat alias Bachcha Kewat, who was earlier eliminated by the police. Kewat and his gang was active in UP and Madhya Pradesh. Nanhu had at least 11 criminal charges against him in UP alone.

Rajapur police in the Chitrakoot district was hunting for him since May when Nanhu had allegedly killed one of the special operation group (SOG) personnel on May 23. On June 16, Nanhu and his gang killed another SOG officer.