The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Monday killed another accused in the ₹1.5-crore jewellery robbery case reported in Sultanpur last month.

The deceased, Anuj Pratap Singh of Janapur village in Amethi, was killed at Achalganj in Unnao district.

Amitabh Yash, the additional director-general of police (STF and law and order), said: “The accused was hiding in Achalganj. Our team got a tip off on him and tried to arrest him but he fired on the STF and tried to flee. The STF members fired at him in self-defence. The accused suffered injuries but someone who was accompanying him managed to flee. He (Anuj) was taken to a local primary healthcare centre and referred to the district hospital, where he was declared brought dead.”

Over a dozen criminals had allegedly robbed gold jewellery worth ₹1.5 crore from Bharat Jewellers in Sultanpur on August 28. The police killed the second accused at a time when the Opposition was questioning the first encounter.

On September 5, the STF killed another accused, Mangesh Yadav, 24.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the government was selectively killing youths from the Yadav caste.

“Mangesh was picked up by the police two days before he was killed. But they claimed that he was killed in an encounter when the STF fired at him in retaliation,” Akhilesh had said. After the first “encounter”, the SP had organised protests at several places.

The former chief minister had also alleged that the main accused was “contacted and made to surrender and the bullet was fired on the legs of the other (accused) persons who were friends (of the ruling party) and the killing was done after taking into consideration the caste factor”.

Anuj’s father Dharmraj Singh told reporters: “The government has fulfilled the wish of Akhilesh Yadav by killing a Kshatriya youth. I am sure he would have been alive if the SP president had restrained himself from making the caste of Mangesh an issue.”