Pratapgarh: Two members of an inter-district goat theft gang were injured and arrested following an encounter by police near Badohi village in Pratapgarh late Monday night. Those arrested were Sahzad alias Imran (27) and Ubaid Ullah (30), residents of Mandhata and Delhupur respectively. The duo was admitted to the district hospital for treatment.Cops have also seized five stolen goats, two country made pistols of 0.315 bore along with used and live cartridges and one SUV from the spot. The encounter took place when cops were carrying out routine checking and intercepted a suspicious SUV. When cops asked the SUV driver to stop, the occupants opened fire on the police party. In retaliation, police shot back leaving two criminals injured.Two of their accomplices– Sahbaz and Salman of Hariharpur– managed to flee.Ubaid Ullah told police that he, along with his accomplices, had stolen five goats from a house at Sipah Maheri village and was planning to sell them in Jaunpur. While Sahzad had eight criminal cases registered with different police stations of the state, Ubaid Ullah had 15 criminal cases.
