Gangster with a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head surrenders at Muzaffarnagar SSP's office

Muzaffarnagar: A gangster named Vikas Rathi went to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muzaffarnagar's office on Friday and surrendered. Rathi had a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head. Along with Rathi, his associate, Shravan also surrendered the same day while he was being produced before a court.

The accused, Rathi said that he wanted to surrender as he had helped another gangster in escaping from police custody. Allegedly, Rathi had helped a gangster named Rohit Sandu in escaping from police custody last month. A police inspector had died during retaliatory firing that took place when Sandu was trying to escape. 

Last month, Sandu had been brought to a court from Jaunpur Jail in Uttar Pradesh. Sandu and the police were on their way back and had stopped at an eatery on Jansath road in Salarpur when shots were fired at them. While the police tried to respond to the firing, Sandu managed to escape from custody. 

A few days after the incident, Sandu and one of his associates were shot dead by the police in an encounter. According to a report, the encounter took place under the limits of the Nayi Mandi police station. Following this, the police also shot down two other associates of Sandu under the limits of the Daurala police station. 

Another gangster named Bhupendra Bafar including other associates of Sandu had also been arrested by the police following the encounters. While they were being interrogated, Bafar and his associates revealed that they had played a part in planning Sandu's escape. They also told the police that Vikas Rathi and Shravan were also involved in executing Sandu's escape. 

When the police learned this, they announced a bounty of Rs 50,000 on Rathi and that of Rs 25,000 on his associate Shravan. The police also formed teams to nab Rathi but he had been hiding to evade arrest. The police had arrested seven other people in relation to the case. 

On Friday when SSP Muzaffarnagar was addressing the concerns of the common people in his office, Rathi showed up and surrendered. After he confessed, the SSP arrested Rathi. Rathi feared the fact that if he surrendered in court, he would have been taken on remand which would have given a chance to the cops to plant fake evidence against him. Therefore, he decided to surrender at the SSP's office. While Rathi approached the police and surrendered, his associate Shravan surrendered in court and was sent to jail.