AGRA : Dreaded gangster Mohd Ramjani (30) was killed in an encounter with Aligarh police in Akrabad area late on Friday night. He had 18 criminal cases against him in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. A sub-inspector was also injured in the encounter.This is the 24th encounter in which a criminal was shot dead in the state this year.In November, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sought a detailed report from the Uttar Pradesh government for allegedly endorsing police encounters to improve law and order in the state. The commission had observed that “even if the law and order situation is grave, the state cannot resort to such mechanism, which may result in the extra judicial killings of the alleged criminals”.Officials said sub-inspector Arvind Malik , in charge of Kaudiaganj police chowki, who was part of the team, received bullet injuries in the encounter that lasted for almost 45 minutes.The encounter took place at Nanau-Chandgarh road around 10:30 pm when Ramjani was allegedly trying to flee in a stolen car. When he was challenged by the police party, Rajmani and his two associates, who managed to escape, allegedly opened fire. The police retaliated, killing him on the spot. A carbine was recovered near his body.According to police, Ramjani, who hails from Mudlana village in Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, was wanted for various heinous crimes, including dacoities, murders and thefts in Haridwar and Saharanpur. He was also booked under the Arms Act and Gangster Act.Speaking with TOI, Aligarh senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey said a manhunt has been launched to nab Ramjani’s associates who managed to flee under the cover of darkness.Additional director general (law and order) Anand Kumar said, “This or the earlier encounters were not planned. It was just a ‘chance occurrence’ that during an exchange of fire, criminals have been killed.” Police personnel, he said, had the right to retaliate in self-defence if they are shot at. In the Aligarh case, police swung into action after receiving a complaint of car theft. “When the suspects started firing at the police party, they retaliated,” he added.“One of our men was also injured in the exchange of fire,” Kumar said, adding that criminals would not be allowed to flout the law. “We are taking criminals head on.”On the NHRC notice, he said no complaint has been filed with the rights commission and it had served a notice to the government after taking cognizance of media reports.