A notorious criminal, carrying a reward on his arrest in the case of robbery involving a first-year BTech student, has been killed in an encounter with the police in Ghaziabad, officials said on Monday.

The student, Kirti Singh (19), had suffered grievous injuries after two bike-borne tried to snatch her phone while she was returning home from college in an auto-rickshaw on October 27.

She studied at ABES Engineering College in Ghaziabad and lived in the college hostel. Last weekend, she was going to her home in Hapur in an auto-rickshaw and was accompanied by her college mate.

As the two accused tried to snatch her mobile phone, she fell from the moving auto-rickshaw and hit a road divider. She was admitted to a hospital with severe injuries on her head and was put on a ventilator. She died on Sunday night, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ghaziabad, Vivek Chandra Yadav said.

SHO of Masoori Police Station Ravindra Chand Pant was suspended for dereliction of duty while two sub-inspectors Tanvir Alam and Punit Singh were shifted to the police lines following the snatching incident, the DCP said.

Late on Sunday night, Ghaziabad police set up a checkpoint in the Masoori police station area and directed two persons approaching on a motorbike to stop but they began running and opened fire at the police, injuring a sub-inspector, police said.

In retaliatory firing, one of them was injured while the other managed to flee, they said, adding that the injured was rushed to a hospital where he died.

The deceased has been identified as Jitendra and he had 12 cases registered against him. He was absconding in the Octber 27 robbery which led to Kirti Singh's death. A reward of Rs 25,000 had been declared on his arrest, the police added.

On Saturday night, the other snatcher Balbir was arrested following an encounter. Balbir had received a bullet injury in his leg.

Meanwhile, Kirti's father has demanded stringent punishment for the robbers.

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