Gangster Anandpal singh, with Rs 5 lakh reward on head, killed in encounter in Rajasthan

Anandpal singh carried Rs 5 lakh reward on his head

Notorious criminal Anandpal singh, who had troubled law enforcement agencies in Rajasthan for years, was on Saturday night killed in an encounter with police in Churu district. Two policemen were also injured in the encounter. Anandpal, who carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, had taken a shelter in a house near a highway.

Anandpal had managed to escape from custody of police while being taken back to high security prison in Ajmer from a court in Nagaur in September 3, 2015. Two cops were killed in the incident following which Rajasthan police announced a Rs 5 lakh reward on his head.

"He was alone in the house in Churu district and opened fire at police from rooftop when the police surrounded the house and challenged him. In the exchange of fire, he was killed," DGP Manoj Bhatt told PTI.

"On a pin pointed information, teams of the special operation group (SOG), the emergency response team and local police surrounded the house near Sardarshahar and asked him to surrender but he opened fire at the police," ADG ATS and SOG Umesh Mishra said.

The gunbattle lasted nearly 45 minutes as Anandpal, armed with Kalashnikovs, fired nearly 100 rounds. Two AK-47 rifles and 400 rounds of ammunition have been recovered from the encounter site.

According to police sources, he was staying in a home of one Shravan Singh. While Anandpal stayed on top floor of the house, Shravan's family stayed on the ground floor. Police have arrested Shravan for providing shelter to a criminal.

Before the encounter, Haryana police made a major breakthrough earlier in the day by catching Anandpal's brother Rupendra Pal singh and his aide Devendra alias Gattu from Sirsa district in the state.

Each of them carried a reward of Rs one lakh on their head.

Haryana police shared the details of Anandpal's whereabouts with their counterparts in Rajasthan following which the house was surrounded in Churu.

A dreaded criminal, Anandpal, was involved in over two dozen cases in Didwana, Jaipur, Sikar, Sujangarh, Churu, Sanganer among others and was also main accused in high profile murder cases like Jivan Ram Godara murder case of Didwana (Nagaur) and Gopal Fogawat murder case of Sikar district.

Close to 100 aides of Anandpal were arrested from different places after his escape in 2015 but the gangster remained the major challenge for the state police.