Lucknow, Oct 7 (IANS) The Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Allahabad police Tuesday shot dead an alleged criminal in a shootout, the police said.Identified as Afroz alias Bunti, the slain criminal carried a cash reward of Rs.20,000 on his head and was a known sharp-shooter of the dreaded Munna Bajrangi gang.

“We received information about Bunti’s presence in the Colonel Ganj locality of the city in the early hours and laid a trap,” inspector Dhanjay Mishra of the SOG told IANS by phone.

The police tried to intercept Bunti, who was on a motorcycle with his accomplice, around 7 a.m. but he opened fire at the team, the police officer said.

“He was killed in the crossfire and we recovered a foreign made pistol, along with some live cartridges from the spot. However, his accomplice, who was riding the motorcycle, managed to flee from the spot leaving the vehicle behind,” Sharma said.

Bunti was wanted in over two dozen cases of murder and kidnapping in Varanasi, Allahabad and other neighbouring districts.