india

Updated: Sep 16, 2019 17:09 IST

Madhya Pradesh Police on Monday claimed to have killed dacoit Babuli Kol, 40, and his gang member, Lavlesh Kol, 34, in an encounter at Satna, 486 kilometers north east of Bhopal, three days after he released a farmer abducted for ransom.

Babuli was wanted in more than 47 crimes in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) and carried a reward of Rs 6 lakh on his head, including 5 lakh announced by the UP police. Lavlesh carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh, police said, adding that the gang was involved in kidnapping, murders and extortion cases.

Rewa zone inspector general (IG) of police Chanchal Shekhar said, “After the abduction and release of the farmer a few days ago, police were on high alert. We got information about their movement in Manjhganwa area of Satna district and police cordoned off the area. The dacoits started firing at the police team and in retaliatory fire Babuli and Lavlesh were injured.”

The two dacoits managed to escape into the jungle taking advantage of darkness, he said. During combing operations their bodies were found, he informed. The police also recovered two 12 bore rifles from the spot.

The police shared the information about the encounter 12 hours after it took place.

Last week, the gang was in the news for abducting a farmer, Awadesh Dwivedi, from Satna on September 8 and demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. Later, the police claimed Dwivedi was released without ransom being given. Dwivedi, after his release on September 12 told the police that he survived for four days in the jungle eating leaves of different trees.

Babuli Kol: From farmer to tech-savvy dacoit

A resident of Kolan village of Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, Kol joined the gang of dacoit Shiv Kumar Patel popularly known as Dadua in 2006. He looted a Satna-Allahabad train and also killed a Russian lady during the loot in 2006, according to the police.

After Patel was killed by the police in 2007, Kol joined the gang of Swadesh Patel alias Balkhadia. He worked for Balkhadia for about eight years and after his death in a police encounter in 2015, he declared himself the leader of the gang.

The police said in the past four years, he created terror among people in Bundelkhand region of UP and Vindhya region of MP. He committed the maximum number of crimes in Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba and Hamirpur in UP and Satna and Rewa of MP, police said.

From kidnapping a Samajwadi Party leader’s son to extorting money during marriages, he had more than 50 cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping pending against him, according to police.

He married one Gudiya, who joined his gang, a few years ago. A tech savvy Kol had released his videos on social media brandishing rifles and dancing to local music.