UP: Shahoon gang's active member Rahul Meo arrested after encounter

Mathura: The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested Shahoon gang's active member Rahul Meo from Kosikalan police station area of Mathura after an encounter.
A reward of Rs 25,000 was announced by Senior Superintendent of Police, Mathura for arrest of Rahul Meo.

According to STF, many criminal cases are registered against Rahul Meo, which include highway robbery, dacoity and extortion. He is an active member of Shahoon gang and has been involved in carrying out many crimes.
According to STF, on November 25, information was received that Rahul Meo and his gang members were planning to commit an incident in the industrial area of UPSIDC Mathura. Based on this information, STF and Kosikalan police jointly took prompt action and arrested Rahul Meo after an encounter near the cut of UPSIDC Phase 2.

"STF, Uttar Pradesh, has been receiving information for the past several days about absconding or proclaimed criminals actively committing crimes and indulging in other crimes. In this regard, various units and teams of STF were directed to collect information and take action. In the same sequence, under the direction of Shri Raj Kumar Mishra, Additional Superintendent of Police, STF Field Unit, Noida, Inspector Shri Vinod Kumar, STF Field Unit, Noida, formed a team and the process of collecting information was being done," said the police.

During the arrest, Rahul Meo fired at the police, to which the police also responded. Rahul Meo, who was injured in this encounter, has been admitted to the hospital for treatment.
A pistol and a live cartridge have also been recovered from Rahul Meo. A case under IPC No. 820/2023 Section 307 IPC 3/25 Arms Act has been registered against him in Kosikalan police station.

According to STF, Rahul Meo's gang has carried out many incidents of highway robbery in the last few years. These also include the robbery of a truck loaded with 9000 mobile phones going from Greater Noida to Bangalore.
The accused is originally a resident of Vishambhara police station, Shergarh district, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Currently, he is living in Fatehpur Taga, Faridabad, Haryana.

Rahul is a resident of Vishambhara village of notorious criminal Shahoon and has been associated with Sherkhan and Shahoon since the beginning. Shahoon and Shera Khan had been of criminal nature since the beginning and had committed incidents of looting vehicles along with their goods. He had committed many incidents in collaboration with Shahoon and Sher Khan.
In the year 2019, Rahul Meo, along with Shahoon, Sherkhan, Zubair, Wasim and Munfaid of Rajasthan, looted a vehicle full of tyres coming from Hyderabad to Agra in Agra, which they sold in Meerut. Similarly, a train carrying tyres going from Pune, Maharashtra, to Panipat was looted in Ghati village, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

In the year 2019, a train full of chocolates going from Panipat to Pune was looted in Shirdi, Maharashtra.

In the year 2021, they looted a truck filled with 9000 mobile phones (worth around Rs 7 crore) from the Greater Noida OPPO company, which was going to Bangalore in Farah police station area, injured the driver, took him hostage and took the truck with the driver to Jaipur and all the mobiles. The driver and the truck were dropped off and left in Madhya Pradesh. This incident was unveiled by the Noida unit of the Uttar Pradesh STAF on November 4, 2021, in which Shahid and Azharuddin, along with Rahul, were arrested and 1525 mobiles were recovered from their possession.