A man wanted in a loot case surrendered before the police here with a placard hung around his neck that read "I have come to surrender, don't shoot me", officials said on Wednesday. The man, identified as Ankit Verma, had been on the run for the past six months, they added. "It is a result of the fear of the police among the criminals that they are surrendering," Circle Officer (CO) Navina Shukla said. Earlier also, there were reports from different parts of Uttar Pradesh of wanted criminals walking into police stations to give up before the law, fearing tough police action and demolition of their properties with the help of bulldozers. Special Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar told PTI that the state police is working in accordance with the chief minister's instructions of "zero tolerance" towards crime and criminals. Reports suggest that more than 50 wanted criminals surrendered before the police in different parts of the state within a fortnight of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath returning to power early last year. On Tuesday, Verma reached the Chhapia police station with a placard hung around his neck and shouted, "I have come to surrender, don't shoot me," he said. The placard also carried the same message in his handwriting, the police officer said. One Amarjit Chauhan of Mahuli Khori village in Gonda had filed a complaint with the police alleging that when he was returning from a college on February 20 on a motorcycle, two men stopped him near Piprahi bridge and looted his two-wheeler, mobile phone and wallet at gunpoint, the CO said. Subsequently, a case of robbery was lodged and during investigation, the names of Ankit Verma and another person came to the fore, Shukla said, adding Superintendent of Police Ankit Mittal then announced a reward of Rs 20,000 on their arrest. Station House Officer Suresh Kumar Verma said the man was placed under arrest and other legal formalities were carried out. The surrender of the man before the visit of Adityanath here is being described by the police as a "big achievement". Reports suggest that as many as 183 alleged criminals have been killed by the police in encounters in the six years of Adityanath's government in the state.
