LUCKNOW/MEERUT, July 29 -- Dablu Yadav, a notorious gangster from Bihar's Begusarai, was gunned down in an encounter with UP Special Task Force (STF) in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district late on Sunday night, said UP Police additional director general (ADG) Amitabh Yash here on Monday. He said the gangster, aged around 40, carried a reward of Rs.50,000 on his head and was wanted in the murder of a social worker and politician in Begusarai May earlier this year. Sharing further details, a senior STF official said the encounter took place near canal bridge under Hapur's Simbhavali police station area while STF Noida unit was tracking his movement on the information of a Bihar gang of criminals hiding in National Capital Region (NCR) at around 11.55 pm on Sunday. He said UP STF and Hapur police jointly carried out operation. The STF official said the gangster was associated with the registered criminal gang A-121 in Begusarai and was wanted in multiple cases, including murder, robbery and extortion. He said a reward of Rs.50,000 had been announced for information leading to his capture. The official said the gangster along with his one aide was intercepted and asked to surrender when he opened fire on the police team. He said Yadav was gunned down in retaliatory firing while his aide managed to escape. He said Yadav's gang was responsible for the murder of Vikas Kumar alias Rakesh Kadam, a social worker and block president of the Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) Party, on May 24 this year. The cop said the gang had abducted Kadam and later buried his body in a sand-filled grave in the Diyara area of Begusarai. An FIR was registered against Yadav and his accomplices for the crime. The reward on his head was announced in the same case. He was also an accused in the murder of one Mahendra Yadav for turning approver against his criminal activities in a court in UP's Ballia in 2017. Dablu Yadav had shot dead Mahendra Yadav inside the local of the chief judicial magistrate. The official said the gangster had as many as 24 criminal cases, including one of dacoity, two cases each of murder, robbery and extortion and six cases of attempt to murder against him. He further said the STF recovered a substantial amount of ammunition and other items, including a carbine and a country made firearm, from the encounter site. Station house officer, Simbhaoli police station, Hapur, Sumit Kumar said that Bihar police had been camping in Uttar Pradesh for the past four days after receiving leads on Yadav's hideout. Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Noida STF, Hapur police and Bihar police tracked him....