Lucknow:

The man accused of attacking a woman constable on board a train last month was traced and killed in an encounter during a raid in Uttar Pradesh, police said on Friday. Two of his aides were injured in the gunfight and arrested.

The constable was found in a pool of blood on board the Saryu Express near Ayodhya, with injuries to her face and head. She’s now under treatment at a Lucknow hospital.

Anees Khan, the prime accused in the attack, was injured in the encounter when the cops went to arrest him and died during treatment, while his aides – Azad and Vishambhar Dayal – were arrested, police said.

“We identified and traced the accused based on technical and manual inputs, and a photo that was identified by the victim. Based on this, Ayodhya Police and a special task force conducted a raid on them,” said Raj Karan Nayyar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ayodhya.

He said the criminals fired at them during the raid, forcing the cops to retaliate. Two of them were injured in the gunfight and arrested while the third escaped. A search and cordon was initiated to locate him, said Mr Nayyar.

Spotted again, the criminal was asked to surrender but he chose to fire at the cops, leading to injuries in retaliatory firing. He later died during treatment.

A policeman was also injured during the operation.

The woman constable was found inside the train compartment on August 30. Her brother had filed a police case on the same day. Days later, the Allahabad High Court took up the case and pulled up both the railway police and UP government during a late-night hearing.