Lucknow, April 24 || Seven former Uttar Pradesh legislators have figured prominently in the UP Police list of 'most wanted'.
The state police's 'most wanted' list includes names of criminals involved in serious offences such as murder and extortion and those who are accused in cases of usurping land and property.
Those in the list also include don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, former MLA Vijay Mishra, former BSP MLA Haji Yakoob Qureshi, former BSP MLC Haji Iqbal, former MLC Brijesh Singh from Varanasi, former SP MP Rizwan Zaheer, former BSP MLC Sanjeev Dwivedi, former block pramukh Sudhir Singh in Gorakhpur and block pramukh Dilip Mishra.
Special DG, law and order, Prashant Kumar, reiterated that action against criminals has been taken irrespective of their caste, religion and region.
"We will be monitoring these 66 criminals from the DGP headquarters and ensure that the cases in which they are named as an undertrial are pursued, so that conviction is achieved," said Kumar.
The officer added that activities of the gang members of those in the list will also be monitored. Special police units, like the STF and ANTF, will also initiate action against them.
Kumar added that of the 66 named, two have died -Atiq Ahmed and Aditya Rana, who carried a bounty of Rs 2.5 lakh and was killed in exchange of fire with the police in Bijnor.
"Of the remaining, 27 are in jail, five are absconding while others are out on bail," added the special DG.
"Those on the run include Badan Singh Baddo, Vinay Tyagi of Muzaffarnagar, former MLC Haji Iqbal who also carries Rs 1 lakh reward and others," added Kumar.
Another senior officer said that since 2017, action against every dreaded criminal and gangster, who considered himself the uncrowned king of the underworld, has been initiated.
"The Yogi government launched a crackdown on all sorts of mafia and gangsters in the state, including those who had established a network of crime and enjoyed political patronage during previous governments," a government spokesperson added.