The scale of the police crackdown in Uttar Pradesh is staggering. Since 2017, officers have conducted nearly 15,000 encounters, arresting over 30,000 people and killing 238 alleged criminals in the process, according to official data released Thursday.
The state’s top cop, Rajeev Krishna, attributed the aggressive operations directly to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who swept into power seven years ago promising to crush crime.
“In the last eight years, we carried out 14,973 operations. During these, 30,694 criminals were arrested. Out of them, 9,467 were shot in the leg while attacking police. A total of 238 criminals were killed,” Krishna told reporters.
The crackdown was most intense in the western region.
Meerut zone topped the list with 7,969 arrests and 2,911 injuries. Agra followed with 5,529 arrests and 741 injuries. Bareilly saw 4,383 arrested and 921 injured, while 2,029 were arrested in Varanasi and 620 injured, according to the police statement.
The trend extended to commissionerate zones.
Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded the highest numbers among commissionerates, with 1,983 arrested and 1,180 injured. Ghaziabad followed with 1,133 arrests and 686 injured. In Agra Commissionerate, police arrested 1,060 and injured 271.
Chief Minister Adityanath’s stance has been firm, the DGP said. “From the beginning, he made it clear that criminals have no place in Uttar Pradesh. They must either give up crime or leave the state.”
To support this mission, the government has been upgrading police capabilities.
Krishna said law enforcement officers have received modern weapons, better training, and support to boost morale. He credited this with improved public safety and a reduction in criminal activity.
The official narrative is one of triumph. According to the DGP, this relentless crackdown has made Uttar Pradesh a model of safety. But the report itself tells only half the story.
It provides no answers about what happened next—no mention of independent investigations, no details on court findings, and no sense of any outside oversight for these thousands of encounters.
