Moradabad, 02 April: In a joint operation, the Uttar Pradesh STF and Moradabad police on late Wednesday night gunned down Ashu Chadha alias Monty — a sharp shooter of the notorious Udham Singh gang carrying a ₹50,000 bounty — during an encounter in Civil Lines. Monty was wanted for extorting ₹5 crore from a city exporter and attempting murder, police told.
The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Satpal Antil said that Ashu Chadha alias Monty, a resident of Mirpur Kala of Hapur district, was a notorious criminal of western Uttar Pradesh. Recently, he demanded a ransom of ₹5 crore from Arshu Dhal, a resident of Civil Lines, the operator of Wazir Candra Exports, a prominent Moradabad exporter, and also carried out a murderous attack on him. Teams from the Special Task Force (STF) Meerut Field Unit and Moradabad police were searching for him. Late Wednesday night, a joint STF and police team laid siege near the post-mortem house in the Civil Lines police station area. Seeing himself cornered, Monty opened fire on the police team. He was seriously injured in the retaliatory fire. Doctors at the district hospital declared him dead.
The Superintendent of Police, Nagar, Kumar Ranvijay Singh, stated that police recovered a Swift car, a .32-bore Ordnance Factory-made pistol, a .32-bore revolver, and a 12-bore gun from the scene. A large number of spent and live cartridges were also recovered. A total of 36 serious cases were registered against him in Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Moradabad.