By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 30 Apr: A dramatic late-night police encounter in Dehradun last night led to the killing of a wanted criminal carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. During the encounter, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Premnagar police station sustained bullet injuries. The accused has been identified as Akram, a resident of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh and he is stated to be involved in a recent armed robbery attempt and has had a long criminal history spanning Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
In this regard, IG, Garhwal, Rajiv Swarup and SSP-Dehradun, Pramendra Dobal jointly briefed the media today. According to them, the incident occurred late last night, when information was received at Premnagar police station through the control room that unidentified assailants had shot at a contractor on Paundha Road and had looted cash and valuables. Acting promptly, Inspector Naresh Rathore along with his team rushed to the spot, where the injured victim, Devaraj, informed them that a group of assailants travelling in a black car bearing a Gujarat registration number had intercepted his scooter, opened fire on him and fled towards Vishranti after looting his bag containing Rs 2 lakhs, a mobile phone, a diary related to financial transactions and other documents.
Police immediately provided first aid to the injured victim and then launched a pursuit of the criminals. The suspect vehicle was soon spotted heading towards the forest area. When intercepted, the occupants abandoned the car and fled into the forest and, at the same time, they opened fire at the pursuing police team, which continued the chase. During the chase, the assailants fired again, and Inspector Rathore was hit by a bullet in his hand. In retaliatory fire by the police in self-defence, one of the criminals sustained multiple bullet injuries, while others managed to escape under the cover of darkness.
The injured accused and Inspector Rathore, along with the victim, were rushed to the Premnagar health facility and later referred to a higher centre. The accused later succumbed to his injuries during treatment at Coronation Hospital. Inspector Rathore is currently undergoing treatment at Synergy Hospital and is reported to be stable.
The Police have recovered one country-made pistol, one country-made firearm, five live cartridges, four spent shells, the vehicle used in the crime and the entire looted amount of Rs 2 lakhs along with other items from the spot. A forensic team was called in to collect evidence, and a mobile phone recovered from the deceased helped establish his identity as Akram, son of Masoom Ali, a resident of village Bunta under Garhi Pukhta police station in Shamli district.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Akram was the main accused in a 2014 dacoity case in Balawala in Dehradun, during which a youth named Ankit was shot dead after the family was held hostage. Ankit was son of an Agriculture Department officer. Akram had remained absconding for nearly three years in that case and was later arrested in 2017 with an illegal weapon. He had subsequently been lodged in jail in 2024 and 2025 in separate theft cases registered in Patel Nagar and Clement Town police stations. Shamli police has also declared a reward of Rs 5,000 on him in a separate robbery case.
The Police sources indicated that Akram had come to Dehradun on 29 April to attend a court hearing and then allegedly committed the robbery along with his associates the same night. SSP Pramendra Dobal along with other senior officers, visited both the encounter site and the hospital to review the situation and issued directions for the arrest of the absconding accomplices. A district-wide intensive checking campaign has been launched to trace the remaining accused.
Cases have been registered at Premnagar police station under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in connection with the robbery and the assault on the police team. Rajiv Swarup and Pramendra Dobal claimed that strict action would be taken against all those involved, reiterating the police’s resolve to curb organised crime in the region.
The sequence of events yesterday unfolded when contractor Devaraj was returning home around 10.30 p.m. after finishing work. Near Paundha, he was intercepted by three armed assailants who attempted to extort cash at gunpoint. On his refusal, they opened fire, triggering the chain of events that culminated in the encounter.
