8 Uttar Pradesh cops killed in encounter with criminals
Kanpur: Eight Uttar Pradesh Police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed and seven others injured in an encounter with criminals in Kanpur, officials said on Friday.
Inspector-General of Police, Kanpur, Mohit Agarwal said, "Two persons identified as Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey were killed in a separate encounter in Nivada village and a pistol, which was taken away by criminals from policemen in the earlier encounter, was recovered."
In a separate encounter, police killed two criminals during a combing operation.
The first encounter took place when a police team was approaching to arrest Vikas Dubey, a history-sheeter facing 60 criminal cases, in Dikru village under the Chaubeypur police station on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, police said.
As the police team was about to reach the hideout of the dreaded criminal, a hail of bullets was showered on them from a building rooftop, leaving Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra, three sub-inspectors and four constables dead, the officials said. Giving details of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police H C Awasthi said the notorious criminal might have got an inkling of the impending raid.
Dubey's henchmen put up massive roadblocks to prevent the police personnel from proceeding towards their hideout. As the police team was caught unawares, the criminals fired at them from a building rooftop leading to the deaths, Awasthi said. On getting information about the incident, Additional DG (Law and Order), IG (Kanpur) and the SSP of Kanpur rushed to the spot, where a forensic team has started investigations.
Interacting with media persons, IG STF Amitabh Yash claimed that an automatic 30 spring rifle, which was seized from Dubey's possession during his arrest by the STF in Lucknow in 2017, was used in the Friday's attack on policemen. The automatic rifle was released in someone's favour by a Lucknow court, he added. "We will investigate under which circumstances the automatic rifle was released in someone's else favour," Yash said.
Dubey, who was carrying a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his head, was arrested by the STF from Krishna Nagar in 2017. The STF had seized an automatic 30 spring rifle and a number of cartridges from Dubey's possession.
The state police chief said seven policemen were also injured in these encounters and they have been rushed to a hospital. A combing operation is on and the entire area has been sealed, he said.
Sources said Dubey had allegedly killed Santosh Shukla, an MoS-rank BJP leader, inside a police station in 2001.
Chief Minister Adityanath paid tributes to the slain policemen and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to their family members. According to a government spokesperson, the chief minister directed the police chief to take stringent action against the culprits and collect the detailed report from the spot immediately.
Besides Dy SP Devendra Mishra who was posted as Circle officer in Bilhaur, others killed in the encounter include Sub Inspector Mahesh Chandra Yadav, Sub Inspector Anup Kumar Singh, Sub Inspector Nebu Lal, constables Jitendra Pal, Sultan Singh, Bablu Kumar and Rahul Kumar, police said.
Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, including the Congress, the BSP and the Samajwadi Party, on Friday, lashed out at the Adityanath government, saying no one is safe in the state.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter to condole the deaths of the police personnel. "Eight policemen were martyred while they went to nab criminals. I pay my condolence to the family of the martyrs. In UP, law and order has become very bad and criminals have no fear. From common man to policemen, no one is safe," she said. "The responsibility of law and order is with the chief minister. He should initiate strict action and there should be no laxity in it," she added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Another proof of 'goondaraj' in UP. When police are not safe how can people be?. My condolences are with the family of martyrs and I wish speedy recovery of injured."
Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said, "The BJP government in UP is doing 'natak' (drama) of small encounters in fear that it stand exposed. This will affect the morale of the force and their anger will increase. The government should immediately announce compensation and secure family members (of martyrs)." Earlier, the Samajwadi Party said Uttar Pradesh has become "Hatya Pradesh" (murder state). "In 'rogi sarkar' 'jungleraj', UP has become 'hatya pradesh', where in Kanpur criminals patronised by those in power attacked policemen killing eight of them," the party said in a tweet.
While condoling the deaths, the SP has demanded an "immediate announcement of Rs 1 crore each for the martyred policemen's families". It also demanded that the alleged "connection (of criminals) with those in power should be exposed".
BSP supremo Mayawati termed the incident as "shameful and unfortunate", and added that "it is clear that the UP government needs to be more alert on law and order issue". "Those involved should not be spared by the government at any cost even if a special campaign is needed for that. The family of those who died should be given financial help and a job should be given to one member of their family. This is the demand of the BSP," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a tweet.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
