Two lakh prize crook Manish Singh Sonu, who spread panic in Purvanchal, was killed by the Uttar Pradesh STF in an encounter. He has 32 cases registered against him including murder and the police was looking for him for a long time. A 9 mm carbine, 32 bore pistol and a huge quantity of cartridges were recovered from him. STF killed him in Lohta.
Manish Singh Sonu had panic in Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Chandauli districts of Purvanchal. More than two dozen cases were registered against him in many districts. He had been a headache for the police for almost a decade. He was the main shooter in the ND Tiwari massacre that took place near Shooltankeshwar in April 2021. According to the information, the STF got information that Manish has come to the Lohta area of Varanasi. After this the whole area was cordoned off. Firing started from Manish’s side. After this, the STF team started firing in retaliation and Manish was killed.
STF IG Lucknow told about the encounter that two lakh bounty vicious Manish Singh alias Sonu has been in discussion due to criminal activities in all the districts including Varanasi, Jaunpur and Ghazipur of Purvanchal. Action started after STF found Sonu’s location near Lohta and he was killed in the encounter. He was originally from Narottampur in Varanasi, Lanka. In recent times, he lived in Sulemapur in Cholapur.
Reward increased after double murder case- According to the information, a reward of one lakh was announced earlier on Manish Singh alias Sonu. After the double murder incident near Chowkaghat Kali temple in August 2020, it was increased to two lakhs. He was identified in the CCTV footage of the incident. After this the reward amount was increased. Since then the police was looking for him. Its name also appeared in the party of a businessman of Rohaniya demanding extortion of lakhs of rupees. He was also named in the murder of ND Tiwari, who was returning after worshiping from Shultankeshwar.
Sonu was of a criminal mindset from the beginning- Manish, son of Anil Singh, resident of Narottampur in Lanka, lived with a relative in Undi village of Cholapur since childhood. He was of criminal mindset from the very beginning. After the death of Sunny Singh in the encounter, Manish started collecting extortion by threatening the traders in the surrounding areas including Varanasi.