LUCKNOW, Dec. 22 -- Two notorious criminals carrying hefty cash rewards were killed in separate police encounters in Saharanpur and Bulandshahr districts on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, officials said. Confirming the incidents, additional director general of police (law and order) Amitabh Yash said the action reflected the Uttar Pradesh Police's continued crackdown. In Saharanpur, a Special Task Force (STF) team intercepted Siraj Ahmad, a wanted murder accused carrying a reward of Rs.1 lakh, after receiving intelligence inputs about his movement into the Gangoh area from the Punjab-Haryana border to commit a major crime, officials said. During a cordon-and-search operation, Siraj allegedly opened fire on the STF personnel, prompting retaliatory action. He sustained critical injuries in the exchange and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed. According to officials, Siraj Ahmad, 36, son of Mansoor Ahmad and a resident of Lolepur under Kotwali Nagar police station in Sultanpur district, had a criminal history spanning more than 30 cases, including murder, attempt to murder and cases under the National Security Act, registered across multiple districts of the state. Police recovered a motorcycle, two pistols (.30 bore and .32 bore), a large quantity of live cartridges and spent shells, four mobile phones, two Wi-Fi dongles, a bag and identity documents from his possession. In Bulandshahr, a joint team of Kotwali Dehat and Gulawathi police encountered Azad alias Zubair alias Peter, 35, a criminal carrying a reward of Rs.50,000. During the exchange of fire, a police personnel was injured, while Zubair sustained gunshot wounds and was taken to the district hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Police recovered an illegal .315 bore firearm along with live and spent cartridges and a motorcycle without a registration number from the spot. Officials said Zubair, a resident of the Lisadi Gate area in Meerut, was wanted in multiple cases of robbery and theft, including a mobile phone, motorcycle and cash robbery reported on November 2, 2025, and the theft of 18 goats from a farm in the Gulawathi area earlier this year. He had around 47 criminal cases registered against him across UP, Delhi and Uttarakhand, including charges of robbery, dacoity, theft and gang-related offences. According to official police data, 265 criminals have been killed in separate encounters since the formation of the BJP government in UP in March 2017, with authorities maintaining that such encounters occur strictly in situations of self-defence and form part of the government's zero-tolerance policy against serious crime....