By IANS
Lucknow : In an apparent case of instant retribution, six Uttar Pradesh policemen were killed by a notorious dacoit gang that had just hours earlier lost one of its men in a prolonged shootout with security forces in the forests of Chitrakoot.
The Thokia gang ambushed the Special Task Force (STF) men late Sunday while they were returning to their camp after a "prolonged encounter" with the bandits in the Ansuiya forest of Chitrakoot along the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, police said Monday.
The incident occurred barely 12 hours after commandos shot down India's "most wanted" bandit Dadua and 10 of his men about 100 km away.
"This was a retaliatory move by Thokia, another notorious bandit who carries a reward of Rs.300,000 on his head, against whom we were carrying out a simultaneous operation in which our men had gunned down one of his gang members Sunday," Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal told IANS.
The operation against Thokia was put off due to darkness and the man himself managed to escape.
"Apparently, the bandits dug up parts of the road at a strategic curve in the hilly tract, compelling the commandos to halt at a point where one of the two jeeps got stuck. As soon as they stepped out of their vehicles, they were hit by a spray of bullets from a nearby hillock where Thokia and his men were positioned," Lal added.
Thokia was Dadua's protégé but the two fell out and he went ahead to form his own gang. Sunday evening's retaliatory killing is seen here as Thokia's attempt to establish himself as the new undisputed 'bandit king' of the region.