Bijnor police in Uttar Pradesh scored a major victory. After a late-night encounter, they apprehended Akash, also known as Gola—one of the prime suspect Lavi Pal's closest associates—in the abduction case involving comedian Sunil Pal and actor Mushtaq Khan. For this, a reward of 25,000 had been placed. During the encounter, while the accused sustained an injury as a bullet hit his leg, Officer Avneesh Mann was saved by his bulletproof vest as it caught a bullet fired by the accused.
The injured assailant has been admitted to the district hospital for treatment. From him, police recovered a firearm and three cartridges. Akash, alias Gola, had been on the run since the abduction case involving Mushtaq Khan on December 20, while four gang members, Sarthak alias Rikki, Azeem, Sabiuddin, and Shashank, were arrested by police on December 14.
Following that, another suspect, Shiva, was captured and sent to jail on December 17. However, main suspect Lavi Pal and his key henchman Akash, along with accomplices Ankit Pahari and Shubham, Lavi’s cousin, remained at large. The police were doggedly pursuing them.
Late one night, Bijnor police received information that Akash, a member of Lavi's gang, was coming to meet someone under the Malan River bridge on the Bijnor Mandawar Road. Acting on the tip, police surrounded him, but seeing himself trapped, the accused started firing at the police. One of these bullets stuck in Officer Avneesh Mann's bulletproof jacket. The police, in self-defense, returned fire, wounding the accused in the leg and capturing him. They took him into custody, sending him for medical treatment.
Source: aajtak
From the accused, a .315 bore firearm, three cartridges, and 10,200 rupees from the 2,20,000 rupees withdrawn from actor Mushtaq Khan's account were recovered. Earlier, the police had recovered 1,15,000 from other arrested criminals.
According to SP City Sanjeev Bajpai, Akash Shukla had been on the run with the main accused Lavi Pal for several days, and wherever Lavi Pal hid, Akash was always with him. A resident of Chashiri neighborhood in Bijnor, with Akash in custody, the path to apprehending gang leader Lavi Pal has become clearer. The police are focusing on extracting further information from Akash regarding Lavi Pal's whereabouts, as he was with him during much of the fugitive period.
