Lucknow, Mar 21 (PTI) An alleged criminal involved in the murders of a journalist and a manager of a private firm was shot dead in Varanasi on Monday in an encounter with Uttar Pradesh's Special Task Force, officials said here.

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Gangster Manish Singh Monu was injured in an encounter with an STF unit on the border of the Lohta and Jansa police stations in the district and was rushed to hospital, they said.

He was declared dead in the hospital, they added.

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The officials said police also seized a pistol and a carbine besides many live cartridges at the site of the gunfight between the police and Monu and his accomplice, who managed to flee from there.

Monu was wanted in connection with several murder cases including those of a general manager of a company in Varanasi and a journalist, N D Tiwari, police said, adding the accused had dodged the police many times earlier.

The police had also declared a reward of Rs 2 lakh on Monu's arrest, they said.

An STF official said at least three people belonging to Monu's gang had been killed earlier in separate encounters with the police.

He identified the alleged slain gangsters as Rohit Singh Sunny, Rohit Gupta alias Kittu and Deepak Verma.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)