Currently posted as the Station House Officer of Vikas Nagar, Singh has emerged as the encounter specialist of Lucknow police -- a man of quick reflexes, with a remarkable ability to track down criminals in no time, and a knack for finding his target even in the dark of the night.

Singh's latest exploit was on Sunday night, when he and Station Officer of Madiyaon, V K Mishra, gunned down two dreaded criminals in an encounter in Madiyaon.

According to the police, the two, along with another criminal, had snatched a motorcycle from a man at gunpoint and fled towards Sitapur. But reacting fast, the police intercepted the criminals. A gunfight ensued and two of the criminals were killed. The third managed to escape.

Singh was the Vikas Nagar SHO shortly after a police party headed by him gunned down Noor Mohammad, an aide of Dawood Ibrahim.

Posted with the Crime Branch, Singh, at the time was leading a police team that was escorting Noora for a court appearance.

The police version is that some men ambushed the group to rescue Noora, but they gunned him down. Singh received a pellet injury in a leg and had to be hospitalised. From his hospital bed, he claimed that it was a bullet fired by him that had killed Noora.

In July last year, when Singh was posted in Taal Katora police station, he had intercepted a goon in a fashion that was very similar to his feat of last Sunday.

The criminal, along with an accomplice, had snatched a motorcycle at gunpoint and moved towards a deserted road where Singh and his team caught up with them. An exchange of fire took place, one goon was shot, another escaped.

In fact, there are a few other similarities as well. The encounters take place at deserted spots, never is a policeman killed or seriously injured, but they manage to kill the criminal. Singh believes it is his sheer good luck that he succeeds each time. “It is the grace of God”, he says with a smile.

The encounters:

* JANUARY 6: Sahaj Ram alias Sahju and Holi killed. Sahju received one bullet in the temple and Holi was shot in the chest. Both died on the spot. The police found two countrymade pistols, some cartridges and two motorcycles. The encounter took place at a deserted spot on the Lucknow-Sitapur highway in Madiyaon on the outskirts of the city around 12:30 am. The place is barely five kms from the spot where the two had allegedly snatched a motorcycle a good two hours before.

* OCTOBER 24: Noor Mohammad alias Noora, an aide of Dawood Ibrahim, was being taken to the court from the district jail when, according to the police, four motorcycle-borne youths attacked the convoy, apparently to free Noora. They allegedly hurled bombs and fired at the cops, but their attempt was foiled and Noora received a bullet in the head. The police recovered a countrymade pistol, which, they said, the attackers had handed over to Noora in the ambush. The scene of action was a deserted spot on Jail road near the cantonment, and the time was around noon. The road is not a preferred route of the cops. Still, on that day, the police had taken it.