The Noida unit of the Special Task Force (STF) arrested a criminal, who has 31 cases registered against him, after an exchange of fire here, officials said on Thursday. The encounter took place shortly after midnight near DLF outpost of Sahibabad police station located on the Ghaziabad- Wazirabad road. Based on a tip-off, the STF team was stationed near the outpost, STF's Noida filed unit DSP Vinod Singh Sirohi told PTI.
When the police team tried to intercept a bike-borne suspect, he, instead of stopping, fired at the team, drawing retaliation. The suspect was shot in the leg and taken to hospital, the DSP said.
He has been identified as Afsharoon (40) of Nai Mandi colony of Muzaffarnagar city. He is a history-sheeter in the same police station. During interrogation, he told the officials that he along with his gang had robbed several trucks and vehicles.
He confessed to kidnapping a cloth merchant for Rs 1-crore ransom. A case was registered against the gang. Two members of the gang were killed in a police encounter in Muzaffarnagar in 2007.
IG Police of the Meerut range had declared a reward of Rs 50,000 on Afsharoon in a case of truck robbery which took place in Masuri town of Ghaziabad in July 2019.
Thirty-one criminal cases were registered against him at various police stations of Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar districts in UP.
Police have recovered from the arrested criminal a 9 mm Turkey-made pistol, two used and four live cartridges and motorcycle without registration number plate, DSP Sirohi added.
