As many as 40 alleged criminals have been killed, and 247 injured, in over 1,200 encounters carried out in 12 months by police in Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh.

In the towns of western Uttar Pradesh, home to notorious gangsters, India Today followed the blood trails of what have been officially declared retaliatory fires at wanted suspects.

Our first stop was the historical city of Kairana. Once the cradle of musicians of the famous Kirana Gharana, it's now synonymous with gangsters and their bloody encounters with the UP police.

In Bhoora village, Naushad was charged under the Gangster Act in 2012. He was gunned down in an alleged encounter last year, on July 29. His family is now living in fear. Male members were charged with gangrape when elders challenged the killing as fake.

Documents accessed by India Today show that a day after the family filed a complaint with National Human Rights Commission on August 3, the police came knocking and slapped a gang-rape case on its male members, including Naushad's brother and uncle.

Inaam, the brother of Naushad says, "Our mistake is that we are poor. Look at our house, does it look like it belonged to any big criminal? Police are harassing us for filing the complaint."

"We have been charged with gangrape. The police want to paint the entire family as criminals. They keep sending policemen to our house to take back the complaint. If there is no help, we will be forced to put our thumb mark on which ever document they ask us to put [it] on," he added.

Naushad and his friend Sarvar had a premonition that they would be killed.

Days before their alleged encounter, the duo can be heard quarreling in an audio clip which went viral in Kairana - after their deaths. A voice, which has been identified as Sarvar's, can be heard pleading with the other person (Naushad) to surrender. Otherwise, he says, both will be dead.

He can also be heard saying that Naushad had agreed to surrender before cops after Eid.

Sarvar's family has gone into hiding. His family members have also been charged with gangrape, along with Naushad's.

All this, after complaints were filed with the NHRC. The affidavits were filed separately by Naushad's father Jameel and Sarvar's cousin Wasil.

Jameel and Wasil alleged that a woman police informer tricked Sarvar and Naushad into coming to her house the evening of July 28.

Worried, the two families approached the police later in the night. The next morning, locals told them the two men had been killed in a police encounter, and their bodies taken away.

The families told the NHRC they saw a lot of blood outside the alleged informer's house.

'THEY COOKED UP A STORY'

Next, we travel to Baghpat.

Sumit, a local farmer at Chrichita village, was killed in an encounter that police say took place after a car chase in Noida. But his family strongly disputes this version.

Sumit's father, Karam Singh, insists his son was framed in cases registered against a namesake. According to him, his son didn't know how to drive a car.

Singh alleges his son was picked up from a local market. When the family protested, gang-rape charges were pressed against Sumit's brother and two of his two cousins.

He told India Today, "They brutally tortured my son before killing him. When they realised that they have picked up a wrong Sumit, they messaged us through an informer to send Rs 3.5 lakh, but next morning, when we rushed to a Noida police station with the money, we were told that the case has gone too far. Later in the evening, we were told that Sumit has been killed in an encounter."

"They cooked up a story. Even the local BJP leaders came to us to offer help, but they too couldn't do much. We want justice. I will go to any extent to get those behind this killing punished. They want us to take back our complaint, that's why they have booked our boys in fake cases," he alleges.

Mir Hasan - of Titarwada village in Shamli district - has a similar story. While narrating it, he often breaks down. His son Furqan was shot dead in an encounter on October 23.

The young man carried a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head. In jail for seven years, Furqan was killed barely days after his release. His family suspects police gunned him down in a fake encounter.

Mir Hasan now fears for the lives of his three other sons.

He said, "Look what cops have done to us. My family is finished. They have killed my son in cold blood. Now they are after my other sons."

"Three of them have been framed in fake cases. Now they too are being turned into criminals. But I will never compromise with the police and take back my complaint," he added.



In Sisouna village of Muzaffarnagar, the family of Shameem lives in fear. He was killed in an encounter on December 29.

Shameem had a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on his head and charges of robbery in Delhi. Police records show he's been on the run since Diwali. But the family contests it.

Survivors say Shameem only had a case of bike theft against him. He worked as a mason when police took him in.

Fakhruddin, the father of Shameem, told India Today, "He was kidnapped and killed. I just want to ask if he was a criminal, then he should have been sent to jail. What gives them the right to kill anyone's child like this? Police came looking for him a week before he was killed. They were tracking his movement."

"My son had stopped coming home as he feared the police would harass us. They are still coming to my house and want us to sign a document which declares my son a criminal. I will never sign it."



THE OTHER VIEW

But not everyone's unhappy with the Uttar Pradesh police's encounter spree.

Western UP, now a BJP stronghold, voted heavily for Narendra Modi in 2014. The prime minister's popularity here paid dividends again three years later in the 2017 assembly elections.

The sugarcane belt has been a hotbed of crime. For many residents, the Yogi Adityanath administration's iron-fisted crackdown is a welcome relief.

In Baghpat's Baraut town, Deepak Agarwal's family - involved in a tent-house business - has been a victim of gang attacks and extortion demands during previous governments.

The family strengthened self-defence measures as faith in the police weakened. Two of Agarwal's cousins were shot at his properties a year-and-a-half ago.

But the tide turned swiftly after Yogi Adityanath took over.

Deepak told India Today, "After the Yogi government came, we can move freely and do our daily business. Earlier, extortions were common and criminals troubled us a lot, but now, most have either fled or have been arrested."

In August 2014, Kairana shot into the headlines when two steel traders were gunned down at their store along the Meerut-Panipat highway, for refusing to pay extortion money.



Their families sold off their properties and migrated. The shootings set off a heated debate over what came to be known as a Hindu exodus from Muslim-majority Kairana.

Fast forward to April 2017, the suspect behind murderous attacks - Mukeem Kala - and his dreaded shooter - Mohammad Furqan - were behind bars within weeks of Yogi Adityanath's swearing-in ceremony.



Varun Singhal, who lost his elder brother Vinod to a fatal gun attack by the same Mukeem Kala gang, says, "Criminals fear for their lives under this government. Under the Samajwadi Party rule, they would just spend some time in jail to come out again to commit crimes. When my brother was killed, it was the Samajwadi Party in power. Criminals used to roam freely."

"Now it's the Yogi government, where criminals are being eliminated," he added.

QUESTIONS



Plaudits aside, the encounters have raised profound questions. Critics allege that the lure of rewards and promotions has set off a police race to gun down fugitives in what they call extra-judicial killings.

Nahid Hasan, the Samajwadi Party MLA for Kairana, told India Today, "They are killing small-time criminals, but the real ones are just being shot here and there and sent to jail. Police are doing it for rewards and promotion. Now, they are threatening families with false case(s). We want CBI investigations into all the encounters. That investigation should be monitored by the court."

But the ruling BJP is stoutly defending the police action.

Buoyed by the support from local traders, party lawmakers are full of praise for the UP police.

Sanjeev Baliyan, the MP for Muzaffarnagar, told India Today, "We can understand the pain of Samajwadi Party leaders. If they are so worried that the big gangsters are sitting out, they can tell us their addresses. We will arrest them. This government deserves full marks on the law and order front."

Anand Kumar, ADG Law and Order, UP Police, said the force would verify allegations levelled by the family members of those killed in encounters, and get back to India Today

In a recent, exclusive interview to India Today TV, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath insisted that not a single shootout was fake.

He said, "There has not been a single fake encounter. Yes, I guarantee security for each and every one in UP. Criminals, anti-nationals and anti-social elements should be afraid of the law in UP. We are seeing the results. Known criminals are seen vending vegetables in Meerut."

For now, the Adityanath government has claimed it's been highly successful in handling crime with an iron fist, sidestepping accusations of extra judicial killings.