The Uttar Pradesh Police have killed one gangster and arrested 24 suspected criminals from 10 districts of the state in the past two days, PTI reported on Saturday. The police made these arrests in Bulandshahr, Shamli, Kanpur, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Gorkahpur, Hapur and Meerut.

The police found a carbine, factory and country-made firearms along with cash, jewellery and cars, most of which had been stolen, The Times of India reported. “The idea is to arrest these wanted gangsters and put them behind bars,” Director General of Police OP Singh told the daily. “The police have been directed to use force only in self-defence when there was no other option. The bottom line is that outlaws who are wanted in criminal cases have to be stopped.”

In Muzaffarnagar’s Naglakhepad jungle, the Special Task Force shot dead Inderpal, a gangster who carried a reward of Rs 25,000, on Friday. Inderpal was wanted in more than 30 cases of loot and murder in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Superintendent of Police (STF) Rajiv Narain Singh told PTI.

There have been about 950 “encounters” since the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power in Uttar Pradesh in March 2017, NDTV reported. These have led to the arrests of more than 200 suspected criminals and the deaths of more than 30 people.

Ahead of the municipal elections in the state in November 2017, Adityanath (pictured above) had said that criminals would “either be sent to jail or killed in police encounters”.

The police’s strategy and the chief minister’s comment then attracted the attention of the National Human Rights Commission, which had asked the government in November 2017 to submit a detailed report on the killings in encounters.