145;Ab tak chheh146;

Shaant raho. Apraadh karoge to ya to jail mein rahoge...ya nahin rahoge.When such words come from the SSP of Uttar Pradesh8217;s capital ci...

Shaant raho. Apraadh karoge to ya to jail mein rahoge8230;ya nahin rahoge.

When such words come from the SSP of Uttar Pradesh8217;s capital city, criminals know it8217;s time to pack their bags and leave the badlands of Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s state.

SSP Navniet Sekera counts: 8216;8216;ab tak 6, four by us and two by Special Task Force in Lucknow this year. We have 500 criminals on target8230;flee Lucknow or face the music,8217;8217; Sekera doles out the warning of his 8216;Operation Wipeout8217;.

The encounter fever seems to have caught up with entire Uttar Pradesh this year: as many as 50 criminals, including some of the most dreaded dacoits of the Chambal ravines, have been shot dead. The crime belt of Western UP 8212; Ghaziabad, Muzzafarnagar and Meerut 8212; accounts for 16 encounters. In fact, there has been an encounter almost every day since January.

And yesterday came the biggest strike for the UP police in years. Dreaded dacoit Rajjan Gujjar and his wife Lovely Pandey, who was the most-wanted woman dacoit of the state, were killed in Etawah.

UP police has been on the look-out for Gujjar for the last 15 years in over 40 cases of murder and kidnapping. He carried a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head. Lovely, accused in 30 murders and dacoities, too carried a reward of Rs 30,000 8212; the highest for a woman dacoit ever. The Chief Minister has announced out-of-turn promotions for the team.

Ask upbeat Additional DGP Bua Singh and the warning is clear: 8216;8216;Nirbhay Gujjar is next on target. We will eliminate him soon.8217;8217;

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And the effect of warning is showing. A few days back, a noted land mafia of Lucknow, Lalu Yadav, fled for Patna and filed two writ petitions in Allahabad High Court saying Sekera planned to kill him in a fake encounter. Then, he got his bail cancelled to go to Rae Bareli jail for a 8216;safer haven8217;.

Another wanted criminal surrendered on February 16 8216;8216;fearing he would be bumped off for he was number 13 on my list8217;8217;, said Sekera.

Till death did them part8230;

At 29, Lovely Pandey was the most feared name in Chambal, after Phoolan Devi. She first joined the Nirbhay Gujjar gang in 1998 but then fell for his arch rival Rajjan Gujjar and both got married. They unleashed a reign of terror with more than 108 cases of murder, dacoity and kidnapping. The love bond was firm in death too: Etawah police say Rajjan could have escaped but he opted not to desert his wife who was shot first. Rajjan carried her on his shoulder till being cornered by the police. 8212;ENS