Seven encounters,one spot

Suspicions have been raised earlier about the site. The Noida police have their justification.

“There are many villages in the outskirts of Noida which the police cannot patrol owing to a shortage in personnel,” said a senior police officer. “Infrastructure-wise too,the zone is not fully developed,which is probably why the criminals find the area easy to use for entry and exit.”

Ashok K Singh,Senior Superintendent of Police,Gautam Buddha Nagar,said: “There is no answer why criminals use that specific way. It may be because the lack of electricity and the area being secluded helps them escape.”

The encounters that have taken place so far in the area are as follows:

On October 14,the Noida Phase II police shot three men at the spot — Mohammed Wasim (22),Imran (22),and Shekhar Sharma (22),who had abducted the personal attendant of the CEO of the Greater Noida Authority.

On June 7,2009,the police shot a ‘wanted’ criminal after he tried to flee seeing cops approaching. Ateeq,a resident of Dadri village,was wanted for the murder of a eunuch,Rekha.

On February 24,2009,two suspected criminals were shot down by Noida police in a gunbattle in Phase II,Sector 149. The men,later identified as Vinay Katiyar and Mukesh,were moving in a white Esteem in the Sector 149 Hosiery Complex.

On February 3,2009 the Noida police shot down a ‘wanted’ criminal,Naval Kishore Bihari,a resident of Palamau,Jharkhand,near Phase-II police station of Noida. He had 14 cases of loot,extortion and murder registered against him in Ghaziabad.

On January 25,2009,the UP Police gunned down two suspected terrorists — Ali Ahmed and Abdul Ismail — while they were trying to sneak into Delhi via Sector-93,Noida.

On December 20,2008,the Noida police,along with the Special Operation Group,Varanasi ,shot down Ravi Verma alias Lalu Verma,another ‘wanted’ criminal. The encounter took place near Sector 93.

On December 17,2008,Narendra alias Kalu was shot dead by Sector 39 police near the Expressway leading to Sector 82.