Gangster Rakesh Pandey shot dead in encounter with UP STF in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Sunday gunned down gangster Rakesh Pandey in an encounter at Sarojininagar area of Lucknow. Pandey was carrying cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.

Pandey was accused in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai .

"An informer tipped us about presence of Pandey in Sarojini Nagar Police Station area and we sent a team immediately," said inspector general of police, STF, Amitabh Yash .

A resident of UP's Mau district, Rakesh Pandey alias Hanuman Pandey was wanted in over 20 cases of murder and loot.

Sources in the UPSTF also said that Pandey was main shooter of strongman Mukhtar Ansari and was also close to gangster Munna Bajrangi alias Prem Prakash.

Krishnanand Rai shot dead on November 29, 2005, along with six others, was then a sitting MLA from the Mohammadabad constituency. The investigation of the case was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In 2013, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Ghazipur to Delhi after Krishnanand Rai's wife Alka Rai filed a plea in the court.

In 2019, Alka Rai had approached Delhi high court challenging the acquittal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and others in the case.

Prem Prakash was shot dead in Baghpat jail by Sunil Rathi in July 2018. A CBI probe is also pending in his murder case.